RWBY: Stories From Haven Academy: Part 2 - Beacon
by No1OfConsequence
Summary: The Vytal Tournament is in full swing, with teams from each academy battling for glory in the (perfectly safe) arena. But a dark presence would turn the tournament into a horrible tragedy, and team SAFR can't do a thing to prevent this. But they will fight their darnedest survive the coming Apocalypse. Rated "T" for action/violence, mature themes, and infrequent cussing.
1. Chapter 1: Lunch

**Welcome back to Haven, guys... even though right now the story's at Beacon. Anyway, a couple things to note: I changed the spelling of some characters' names (Rain to Rayne, Sky to Skye, that sort of thing) because of obvious reasons. Another is that I'm sorry about the continuity errors between Part 1 and the show, but please give me a break about that. But anyway, at the end of this, I'll be giving you a little bit of Haven news.  
I do not own RWBY, and this is a fan project strictly for honing my craft and having fun.**

* * *

"So you're not a goth," Storm said, checking if he was understanding this right.

"I'm not a goth; I just like the color black," Ember replied.

They—Storm, Azura, Feather, Crystal, Cirocco, Rayne, and Ember—were gathered around a table outside in a park in Vale, with SAFR on one side and CCRE on the other. They had just been talking, and they had somehow gotten onto the topic of whether or not Ember was a Goth. "So, I was wrong," Storm said, regretfully.

"Don't worry, Storm; you weren't the only one fooled," Crystal said. Feather nodded as well.

"I've no idea what that is," Azura said.

"It's okay, I don't either," Crystal said.

"Wow," Rayne said. "You may have just insulted the entire goth subculture."

"That's an achievement," Storm added.

"I don't know why that doesn't get me dates when I do that," Cirocco said. "You two say something that no one wants to admit, and you get great dates to the dance. Yet when I do that, I get Azura."

Azura pulled out her pistol and put it down on the table. "Keep talking."

Storm tried scooting away from Azura without being too obvious about it. If Rusti didn't get there with the food soon, there'd be six people sitting at this table instead of seven.

Now that he thought about it, why did Ember and Rayne get off so easily for attacking their teammates? If he was in charge of Haven, he might have arrested the pair of them, even if they were trying to warn the staff about something. Why then did Headmaster Forester let them off without even a slap on the wrist? Then again, they might have gotten slapped there, and he just didn't know about it, but he was getting too literal.

Then, Rusti showed up with plastic bags that had Styrofoam boxes bulging in them. "Guess what, guys. Takeout," Rusti said as put the bags on the table.

"Great!" Crystal said.

"About time," Cirocco added.

He handed out boxes with their initials on them to Storm, Azura, Feather, Crystal, and Cirocco. "I got each of you a different dish."

"Neat-o," Storm said.

Rusti stared up at the sky contemplatively. "Do people still say that?"

"I do, and that's enough for me."

Rusti was probably about to reply when Rayne asked, "Where's the food for Ember and I?"

Rusti grimaced. "I honestly forgot you two were around." Well that was rude. "But I got two meals for myself." Storm stared questioningly at Rusti. "Losing makes me hungry."

"Wait, you lost?" Cirocco said, surprised.

"Yep, to team CFVY," Storm said, and sighed. "It was brutal." He looked at Azura. "And it was not helped by you deciding to fight Velvet hand-to-hand."

"She was annoying!" Azura said both angrily and defensively. "It was either fists or the sword, and I'm not so good with the sword." Her hand neared the pistol on the table.

Storm backed away so much, he bumped into Feather. "Okay, okay. Just don't shoot me."

Azura nodded and put her pistol away.

Storm was concerned for Feather though. While some people might not have picked up on it, just by looking at Feather's aura he could tell that she had taken losing hard. That hadn't been the only thing she'd taken hard—after getting hit with that big guy's sword so many times, her defensive aura had been depleted more than he had ever seen it. He hoped she was okay.

Rusti had just sat, giving Rayne and Ember one of his boxes, to eat when Cirocco opened his box. He grimaced, and closed it back up. "What is it?" Rusti asked. Cirocco spun the box around, and showed everyone. Inside were ribs with barbecue sauce and a bag of potato chips. "So?"

"I'm a vegetarian!" Cirocco said. Ooh.

"Huh. I wouldn't have thought that."

Cirocco looked at Rusti like he said that Cirocco was a girl. "Seek the truth, speak the truth." Storm believed that was the Atlas motto, or someone's motto—maybe it was just Cirocco's. It sounded like a motto. "I know that it's been proven that animals have souls, and I don't want to eat anything that had a soul."

"Ugh," sounded Rusti, frustrated. "Is anyone else dissatisfied with their lunch?"

"Um," Feather said. "I originally was not going to say anything but…" She gestured to her salad. "I do not have any meat. And um…" She held up a bag of sunflower seeds.

"I thought you were the vegetarian!" Rusti said.

Feather looked at him curiously. "What gave you that impression?"

"Um, you know. You're a… bird."

"Wow, way to bring the racism on that one," Rayne said.

"Okay, you two," Rusti gestured to Cirocco and Feather, "switch." They passed their boxes to each other, and seemed more satisfied.

Deciding now was a good time to find out about what Rusti had gotten them; Storm as well as Crystal and Azura opened their boxes. Storm was not happy about finding a gyro in his box. While he had eaten this sort of thing before, he wasn't so sure about the sauce. Apparently, Crystal was also unhappy. "What is this? Crystal said, gesturing to her meal.

Rusti stood up and looked at it from across the table. "That's a cheese steak sandwich," he said.

"Well, I don't know who you take me for, but I am Crystal Taryn, daughter of the noble Taryn Estate, and I will not eat this disgusting thing."

"I'll have it," Storm said.

"And what do you have?" Crystal asked.

"A gyro."

"Oh, I'll take that." They switched, and Storm noticed that the sandwich also came with curly fries. He was okay with curly fries, but not overly enthusiastic.

Feather asked him, "Do you mind trading your fries for chips?"

"Sure," Storm said, and they carefully moved his curly fries to Feather's box, and Storm took the bag of chips.

"What about you, Azura?" Rusti said. "Have you got a complaint?"

"I eat what I'm given," Azura said, and took a big bite out of the cheeseburger in her hands. That made Storm feel a little bad for being ungrateful about his food.

He decided to apologize to Rusti, as tough as that was. "I'm sorry about that, Rusti. But next time, I'll get the food."

"Thanks," Rusti said.

Storm paused for a moment, and after offering a silent prayer, he dug into his food. He had to say this about takeout: it tasted pretty good.

"Also, all of you owe me money now," Rusti said. "Except Azura who doesn't have money."

Azura nodded gratefully, but Rayne decided to say, "Yeah. Being your partner is enough."

Storm, as well as Cirocco and Crystal, laughed at that. Feather even smiled a little. "Ha, ha, so funny," Rusti said sarcastically.

After they were done eating—and Storm was done eating long before most everyone else was done, being beaten by only Azura and Rayne—Crystal said, "Well, we'd better get to the arena. Our match is starting soon."

"Who are you fighting?" Storm asked.

"Team SNOW from Atlas."

He hadn't heard of them, but that was no surprise. "Good luck."

"Thanks." And team CCRE walked away back to Beacon.

Rusti decided then to take their side of the table, and ask, "So, anyone want to go see the match?"

"Not into sports," Azura said.

"Same," Storm said.

"I am the same," Feather said.

"Then what do you want to…" Rusti trailed off. "Watch out. Blue haired chick coming right at us, and I'm gonna ask her out." He looked at Storm. "Now you're going to see a master at work."

Storm turned around, curious. Who he saw made him shocked at Rusti. "That's no chick; that's my cousin Skye!"

He looked back at Rusti, and Rusti asked, "Is she single?"

He was about to answer that he didn't keep up in his extended family's personal lives, but somehow, Skye was already there to answer them. "I'm engaged," Skye said, holding out her white gloved hand to show a diamond ring on her finger. She was always this fast and forward.

Smiling, Storm replied, "Congrats, Skye." Then he thought of something. "It isn't…"

"No, I'm not getting married to a her; I'm getting married to a him—I'm over that phase." Storm breathed a sigh of relief. "So, how are you?"

"I'm okay." Realizing she didn't know anyone at the table other than himself, Storm introduced his team. "Skye, meet Feather, Azura, and Rusti; my teammates."

"A pleasure," Skye said, putting her hand forward for someone to shake. Only Rusti shook her hand, which kinda creeped him out.

"Rusti, there's something you should know," Storm said. "Skye is twenty three."

"Hey! It's rude to tell someone a woman's age, and to ask it."

"Yeah, but Rusti was going to ask you out." Skye laughed, and Rusti lowered his head. It was not his day it seemed.

"I'm sorry, Rusti," Skye said. "Perhaps I can make it up to you some time."

"Maybe," Rusti said. He almost thought Rusti sounded depressed.

"Storm, I'd like to talk to you as soon as you're ready."

"Alright." And with a goodbye, Skye walked away. Now what to do?

* * *

 **Okay, so I've written a lot of Part 2 already, because I just couldn't wait for Volume 3 to end, and I can easily adjust things if it doesn't work out. Part of the reason why I'm posting these chapters now instead of later is that my original deadline for this story has already passed (it couldn't be helped because of Volume 3 getting released a lot farther back, and I didn't want massive continuity errors like Part 1), and I want to post this as soon as possible. In any case, I will be releasing more chapters next week, after Volume 3 is over, and once I finish Part 2, I will be posting chapters very rapidly (multiple chapters per day) because I don't want to drag posting this stuff longer than I have to.**


	2. Chapter 2: Snowfall

**Two in one day (yay).**

* * *

Crystal marched into the center of the arena, Cirocco, Rain, and Ember behind her. Rayne and Ember were slower than she and Cirocco, so she had to, more than once, call back for them. When they arrived at the center, already standing there was team SNOW.

SNOW was a very different team, in armored—custom—uniforms, and stances that showed how heavily drilled they were. The leader, Soyala, wore a white sash with her uniform, beads in her hair, and had darker skin than her allies. Next to Soyala was Oxford Grey, a sharpshooter with a bandolier around his torso, and a pointed nose that Crystal found distracting.

Then, was Whitney Songbird, someone even Crystal had heard of. She had the feathers and sunglasses upon her head, the long blond hair, the bulky metal boots, and the armblades longer than the distance between her hands and her shoulders to prove it. She'd once visited the Taryn Estate a long while ago, and her father Dustin had urged her to meet the most remarkable Huntress-in-training in Atlas at the time—she of course refused to, despite the similar ages and interests. Her skills were said to rival that of Pyrrha Nikos of Mistral.

Then was… "Nolen Irons," Cirocco said.

"Cirocco," Nolen said back, in a heavier accent than Cirocco ever spoke in. His uniform was plainer than his comrades, but she could plainly see the hilts of his dual weapons on his back with tassels connected to their ends. "So the rumors of your joining of Haven were true. You're a traitor to your country, you know that right?"

Cirocco cocked his head. "I betrayed them? How is going to a different academy betraying my country?"

"Like you need to ask."

"I'm sorry for Nolen," Soyala said as the area biomes were chosen. "He's usually not like this."

"Oh believe me, he's like this all the time," Cirocco said.

When they were done talking, the biomes had been chosen. On SNOW's side was a flat, icy semicircle with patches of snow here and there. Crystal turned around to her side, and saw a flat rocky plain. So it was going to be flat—dandy.

"Now let the match begin!" said the announcer. And so it began.

Immediately, SNOW retreated. She was shocked at this. "Rayne, Ember, shoot them," she said. Gunfire and fireballs followed the retreating team.

But then they did something unexpected. Soyala pulled out a short shaft of metal with a spear tip, and it extended to nearly twenty feet! Whitney jumped onto one end, and Nolen soon jumped on the other, catapulting Whitney straight up into the air. Once in the air, her armblades transformed into rifles, and she shot the ground with it. The ice shattered into huge shards—some twenty feet tell—pointing into the air at odd angles.

Before Whitney could land, Cirocco launched himself at Nolen. The two collided, and Nolen smashed into an ice shard, shattering it. Well _they_ wouldn't be done for a while.  
"Ember, find a big shard, stand on it, and burn everything below," Crystal said quickly. "Rayne, you cover her. I'll keep them occupied." The pair nodded, and set about their task.

Crystal charged at the rest of SNOW, shattered her swords, and formed them into a bladed staff. She went for Oxford, who she assumed could cause the most trouble for Ember and Rayne. While she couldn't stop Whitney from following them, she didn't think she could take the two of them.

Oxford ran away, rifle in hand, but Soyala would not back down so easily. Soyala reduced her spear to about eight feet, and swung it at Crystal. She blocked, and spun it around, shattering her staff. She reformed it into hook swords.

They dueled fiercely. Crystal grabbed onto the spear with both hooks, and kicked her in the gut. Soyala extended the spear, making her skid back several feet. They fought for control of the spear. Soyala ran to a shard, and leveraged the spear against it. When she saw that Soyala was trying to smash Crystal into one of the shards, she disengaged.

This was the opportunity Soyala was waiting for. She vaulted away from Crystal, and landed on top of one of the shards safely. She then began retracting and extending it at Crystal, and she just barely dodged each time. She turned her hook swords into a shield, but when the spear hit, she was flung back into an ice shard. Then she spun the spear around clockwise, and knocked the shield out of her hands, which shattered on the ground.

If only Soyala had spun it clockwise, then she'd have had an easier time holding onto the shield with the powered arm Storm had built for her.

All the while she had been checking on everyone with her semblance. Ember was battling Oxford, intercepting his shots with her whip. Rayne was trying to protect Ember from Whitney, but he was just barely doing so. And Cirocco was battling Oxford—Cirocco was currently kicking a boulder that Nolen had risen up from the ground with his swords and thrown at Cirocco back at Nolen. In short, none of them could help her in time.

Soyala stabbed at Crystal, but she managed to get out of the way in time. Instead, Soyala stabbed the shard behind Crystal. Crystal then took up the black stone handles of her weapon, formed the tiny specks of green gemstone into a trident, and stabbed the ice shard where Soyala's spear was, locking the spear in place. She also poured a good chunk of her aura into the trident so that it wouldn't break so easily—which was a calculated risk, all things considered—and let go. "What are you going to do now?" Crystal asked.

Soyala didn't answer with words, but lifted her spear and the shard with her trident in it into the air. Disbelief was the main emotion Crystal was feeling—that and fear, shock, horror, and the like. Then Soyala brought it down like a hammer, smashing the ice field where Crystal had been standing before she jumped out of the way.

She activated her scroll, so as to contact the rest of her team. "Anybody care to help?" she asked.

"Too busy," Cirocco said.

Ember started to talk when a gunshot interrupted her. "I'm okay—AH!—just don't ask anything else from me."

"If you handle Whitney, I'll go after Soyala," Rayne said.

"Deal," Crystal replied. She jumped over a chunk of ice, and slid over to where Whitney and Rain were fighting. She would have to fight without a weapon now.

As she got to Rayne and Whitney, Rayne retreated, and Crystal did a spinning kick at Whitney, which was blocked by her arm. Whitney was fast, but Crystal knew all. She saw the minute movements that led to larger moves that could cause trouble for her. She dodged, she gave ground, she occasionally blocked with her right arm—which was currently stronger than her left and armor plated.

When she checked on Rayne, she couldn't find him. Until Rayne suddenly appeared and hit Soyala with a gunshot propelled attack with the point of his staff. Soyala had used her aura to protect both her and her makeshift hammer, which stretched it out so much that when Rayne hit her, her aura shorted out. She dropped the spear, and the chunk of ice hit another, smashing both.

Crystal disengaged Whitney, and jumped towards the explosion of ice. The shard had broken into several smaller pieces—some were smaller than pebbles, while others were larger than Crystal's head. She saw where the handles of the Crystal Blades were, and jumped into the explosion. She leapt from chunk to chunk of ice in the air, and all the while getting closer to the handles. When she finally got close enough, she grabbed the handles, and formed her weapon.

She landed, claymore in hand as bits of ice crashed all around her. She stood and walked towards where she left Whitney. On the way, Oxford poked his head out, and Crystal hit him once over the head with her claymore.

Two buzzers sounded within five second; one for Oxford, the other for Soyala. A third sounded not long after for Nolen as Cirocco shattered his aura with a double foot kick. Things were going well.

Then, Whitney jumped into the air, and fired her rifles at Ember. She didn't have time to react, and Ember was hit so hard her aura went down. "Ooh, that looked like it hurt!" an announcer with a deep voice said.

All focus was on Whitney as Crystal, Rain, and Cirocco all charged her. Crystal swung her claymore at her, but she instead she dodged and spun around and tried kicking her in the gut. Crystal blocked with the flat of her blade. Cirocco then leapt at Whitney, but she kicked him out of the air. Then Rain disappeared to attack her stealthily.

Whitney did a series of backflips, and then punched the stone ground. The sound it made was unnaturally loud, and made a physical shockwave that sent Crystal back a few inches. Rain came out of his cloak right next to Whitney, and she jumped, spun around, and punched with a gunshot propelled attack. Rain's aura went down immediately. "Woah, Songbird has activated her semblance!" the deep voiced announcer said.

"Indeed," said his comrade, a fast talking man. "Whitney's semblance to amplify sound waves near her to incredible volumes has always caused trouble for her opponents."

"And her teammates," the first said.

Whitney grinned and lowered her sunglasses. "Can't stand the music?" she asked.

"Not yours," Cirocco said, and charged with his semblance. Cirocco's semblance was to leap at extraordinary velocities, something that made him fast and his double kicks powerful. Whitney front flipped, and brought her boot down exactly in the middle of Cirocco's back, making a loud noise that Crystal had to cover her ears for. A buzzer sounded, and Cirocco was out.

"Well, doctor, it's one on one now, and I don't know who will win," the deep voiced announcer said.

"My money is on Crystal," his comrade said. "She has the training, the strength, and the skill to take down Songbird, still winning it for her team."

"I think Songbird will win; her talents are beyond any other from Atlas."

"I'll take that bet."

"We can't place bets on the competitors, Oobleck!"

As the two announcers rambled on about betting, Crystal made her move. She shattered the claymore, and formed a halberd. She swung the halberd at Whitney, which she blocked with her armblades, making a head splitting noise. Crystal barred her teeth, and swung it around, intending to swipe her legs out from under her. But much to Crystal's surprised, when the halberd hit Whitney's bulky armored boot, her stance held, and she remained standing! Stunned by this—and by the ensuing noise—Crystal didn't block Whitney's next attack which destroyed her aura.

Her buzzer sounded, and Crystal was defeated. Shock washed over her like a thick, cold liquid. She had lost. A daughter of the Taryn Estate… had lost! The heir to the Crystal blades had lost! She… had lost! She felt like crying.

"Good match, eh?" Whitney said, offering a hand.

"I suppose," Crystal replied. "You beat me."

"Yeah, I guess I did." Whitney then said nervously, "I hope I didn't impugn your honor or anything. You won't kill yourself or seek revenge?"

Crystal chuckled halfheartedly. "No, I won't."

"I'm sorry if I gave you any permanent ear damage. It's not good when I do that."

"I think I'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Great." Whitney help get Crystal's teammates back up. "Because hearing loss is no laughing matter; I was born hard of hearing."

"I'm fine." Then she thought of a joke. "I don't have any herring anyway."

Whitney shot her a look of concern, and then laughed as she realized it was a joke. "Good one."

She decided that the two of them might have been friends, had they been given the opportunity. She would have liked to have a friend like her growing up. But ifs were one thing, and ares was another.

And right now, team CCRE had lost.

* * *

 **I like making heroes who aren't the most powerful people in the world, and they don't go up against the real most powerful in the world people. It's fun, and makes you enjoy their fights a bit more knowing that they can lose. But anyway, see you next week.**


	3. Chapter 3: Heart to Heart

**Welcome back! Also, time to remind you of the... painful chapter in Part 1. I'm sorry, but I had to do this.**

* * *

Storm was in the courtyard, sitting on a bench, when he caught sight of Crystal marching towards him. She was in school uniform with her arm in a sling. He assumed the powered caste he built for her was against school rules, and that's why she wasn't wearing it. She sat down beside him and sighed.

"Tough match?" Storm asked.

"We lost," Crystal replied.

He was surprised. He didn't think anybody could beat Crystal's team. "I didn't think SNOW was that good."

"They have Whitney Songbird on their team."

"Oh. That changes thing a little." He sensed that may have been a little insensitive as an awkward silence grew between them. He decided to change the subject. "So, you missed a good fight out here. Some Atlas specialist fought a drunken guy with a sword."

"Who won?"

"Well, I feel that the drunk could have won, but the Beacon headmaster broke up the fight."

"Hm." Crystal was quiet for a while again. He felt like there was something they needed to talk about, but nothing was coming to mind. "Storm, we need to talk about the other night at the dance."

As he remembered, Crystal left him at the dance with only the word "cinder" to wonder about. Cirocco, Rain, and Ember ran out as well—mostly because Azura was still pretty mad about Cirocco. He was hesitant about talking about it, but it seemed that Crystal was as well, so this may have been his only chance to know what happened. "Go ahead."

She hesitated, and then spoke again. "I… I'm sorry for leaving you like that. It was… wrong to do so."

"It's okay, Crystal." He thought of something else. "That party was getting lame."

"Lame? You use that word now?"

"Actually, I really felt silly using that word just then."

She laughed. But then she got serious again. "Storm, I don't think we're… right for each other." He lowered his head and sighed. It was hard to take, but it also relieved him a bit. He had felt similarly, but didn't want to say anything as it might have hurt her feelings. He wasn't sure how these things worked anyway. "Besides, I'm a Taryn, and you're… What did you're father do?"

He was offended by the question. That was an outmoded way of thinking, and one he personally didn't like at all. But he chose to answer it, grudgingly. "He was a soldier—Mistral Defense Force—but now he's an accountant."

Crystal cocked her head. "Well, all the same, I do not think my father would approve, and… I don't feel that you're…"

"Okay, so the dance was just a onetime thing," he said, wanting to get this over with. This was painful, and he didn't need it going on longer than it needed to be. "Are we still friends?"

"I don't see why not, though if you attempt to court me…"

"I get the message." So that was that. He wasn't going to date Crystal now—not unless he had become a knight or something in the last five seconds.

He got up, and began to walk away after saying a farewell to Crystal. He felt like a lukewarm liquid washed over him, and turned hot in his stomach. What he had done may not have been the right thing to do, but that's what he had done, and he couldn't go back on it now.

He didn't go far before he heard Crystal say behind him, "Wait." He stopped and turned around. "Do you want the arm back or…?"

He quickly realized she was talking about the powered caste he made for her. He had actually been working on that for an addition for his own armor, and then painted it green for Crystal. He kinda wanted it back, but… "Keep it. You need it more than I do."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Anything for a friend." He reconsidered his words. "Well, almost anything."

* * *

Azura came out of the bathroom, almost staggering. Maybe that… whatever it was she had for lunch wasn't so good for her.

She was surprised to see Rusti sitting on his bed. She would have expected him to be somewhere else, making advances towards women who didn't want them. He seemed to be looking in the vague direction of the door before he turned his gaze to her. "Hey, Azura," Rusti said as if he wanted to engage in a longer conversation.

She didn't want to talk to him that much, but felt that it was unavoidable. Rusti would just run after her if she left. "Hey. Want do you want?" she replied.

"I…" he started. It seemed like he had trouble starting this talk.

"Spit it out," she said, wanting to get this over with.

"I told you about my brother Tyson, right?" She nodded. While he hadn't mentioned him by name, she assumed that was the brother he became a Huntsman for. "Well, he's here in Vale. And so is the rest of my family."

"Why don't you talk to them?" she asked, hoping he would take the suggestion.

"I wasn't very close to my parents when I left, and… I'm not really sure about how to approach Tyson." She cocked an eyebrow. Why? "When we were young, we couldn't always do what normal brothers did. While I was on the jungle gym, he was sitting on a bench reading a book next to parents who had brought their children there.

"But when we teenagers, well, things started to change." Of course they did. "Apparently being in a wheelchair gets you a lot of sympathy and sympathy gets you girls."

She was surprised and slightly outraged. "You used your brother's disability to get girls?"

"That's a good summary." She was aghast at this. But that was in the past; not like he'd do it now, right? "Me and my brother had such fun those days. But now I don't know. Not long before I left for Haven, Tyson got into a little accident. He had to go to the hospital, and I… ran. I haven't spoken to him since."

So, he and Tyson hadn't gotten any closure. She began to pity him. "Go see him," she said, keeping emotion out of her voice.

"It'd be awkward. Besides…" He paused for a while, before continuing, "I don't know how to approach him after all this."

"Are you a coward?" she said.

"What?!" he almost yelled as he stood up.

"Are you a coward, Rusti?" she repeated, also standing up. He was taller than she was, there was no disputing that, but she was still taller than most women she had met in Mistral or Vale. "Because only cowards don't have the guts to visit the ones they love!"

"You don't know anything about this!"

"You don't think I know what it's like to see a love one's bones shatter?" she yelled. "You don't think I know what it's like to see them in bed, unable to stand? Let me tell you one thing, Rusti: you may think you know how it is to see a loved one confined to a wheel chair, but your brother will heal and stand again. I know what it's like to see someone fall and never stand again."

Instead of summoning some retort, Rusti went to the door and opened it, making it slam into the wall. Before leaving he said, "Why did I ask you this?!" and slammed the door behind him.

She almost cried, but didn't. "Good riddance," she said, and laid down on her bed to think.


	4. Chapter 4: Of Brothers

**If it seems I'm villainizing Ironwood or Atlas in this chapter, it's only because it's so easy to do. Also, you haven't seen anything yet! I've got a lot more on the evils of a military state, and you won't want to miss that!**

* * *

Storm felt uneasy as he walked into General Ironwood's officer on board his flagship, the _Chrome Axe_. He had been summoned during dinner, before he could even finish. He was more nervous than he had ever felt before.

The office was made of metal painted white, with a desk bolted to the floor of similar construction, and an uncomfortable looking chair on the side of the desk facing Storm. Other than that, the room was quite barren, having nothing but what he imagined was needed to complete a general's paperwork. Ironwood stood behind his desk, and gestured to the chair. "Have a seat, mister Sapphire."

"Thank you," Storm replied and seated himself. He had no idea why General Ironwood had called him here, but he was terrified. Ever since the Atlesian fleet had showed up, he wondered why they had. There was no war to fight, no enemy to conquer. It made him think that Atlas was going to take over Vale, which he very much hoped wasn't going to happen.

"I guess I should tell you why I asked you here," the general said. "I called you here about your brother: Rayne Sapphire."

He felt relieved and even more nervous at the same time. "What about Rayne?"

"We believe he may be unknowingly involved with a terrorist organization of some kind." Terrorists?! He felt his eyes grow large as the general finished, and his heart dropped. "Yes. We fear that Rayne is being manipulated by his partner, Ember Fall, who has ties to one of the terrorists."

He was shocked. He couldn't even speak! Rayne a terrorist?

"Now, this is just a theory, but it would correlate with the odd set of events he's been through since enrolling in Haven. The shooting, the disappearance, the reappearance. It's all very suspicious."

"What about that threat they were tracking down for Headmaster Forester?" Storm asked.

"Really? Well if they were, Forester never told me," Ironwood replied. "More likely that was a lie to avert suspicion." Was anything true anymore? "Really, Mr. Sapphire, I thought you were smarter than that."

He was at a loss for words. "But we can't prove any of this," Ironwood continued. "For all we know, this could be a humongous misunderstanding, and Forester forgot to tell us."

He felt a little more hopeful, but one question occurred to him. "Why tell me all this?" Storm asked.

"He's your brother, and a fellow student. If anyone has a right to know this, it's you." That made sense, he supposed. "Dismissed."

As Storm got to the door, Ironwood seemed to remember something else. "Mr. Sapphire."

"Yes?" Storm replied.

"We found an old woman unconscious on the school grounds. It looked like someone was trying to hide her. Her ID identified her as Locaster Sapphire—a relative of yours?"

"Yes," Storm said concern. "That's my great aunt!" His great aunt who inspired both his mother and uncle into becoming Hunters. "Is she alright?"

"She's in a coma, but we think she'll pull through. Do you want us to contact your family about this, or do you want to do it yourself?"

He considered it. He was never any good at explaining things, so he thought it was better if they told them. "You can do it," he said.

"Alright. As I said, you're dismissed."

He exited and breathed a sigh. This was a lot to take in. His great aunt was in a coma, he was getting summons from Atlesian generals, and his brother was a suspected terrorist. If this was what college was like for his siblings Vermont and Tress, he felt sorry for them, he really did.

* * *

Azura was on her way to the airfield so that she could watch the next tournament match. Team SNOW was going to battle some other team with an especially odd name—she couldn't remember it, but it may have started with an "I" or a "J", or maybe a "G". As her boots clacked along the pavement to the large disks, she heard another pair of boots coming up behind her much faster.

As the boots came closers, she was tempted to move her hand closer to Standoff. While it was most likely some overeager student who was afraid of missing the transport up to the arena, more often than not a pair of running feet behind her belonged to a Grimm, at least back home it was. When the student called her name, she could recognize his voice: it was Rusti.

She turned around, and sure enough, it was Rusti. "Azura," he called out again. He caught up with her soon enough and they continued walking to the airfield. "Azura," he said, "I'm sorry about blowing up at you yesterday."

"No harm done," she replied.

He paused, and continued. "Well, there's something I have to say. What I said… wasn't very nice. I shouldn't have said what I said. But I will say this for what you said: that wasn't so nice either."

"So?" she said.

"So, I think you owe me an apology just I much as I did."

"Huh." An apology; he wanted an apology? She thought that they were even, so neither of them needed to apologize. Apparently things worked different for city folk. "Then I'm sorry. But you still need to visit Tyson."

He growled slightly. "Why is this such an issue? Why do you care whether or not I visit my brother?"

She sighed, and she realized it almost sounded like she was hissing. "I said I knew what it was like, and I do."

They had walked to the airship where two Atleasian guards were posted. The guards wanted for them to show their IDs, and they did. The guards were satisfied, and they boarded. They took a couple of seats on the airship, and waited for it to take off.

Meanwhile, Rusti continued to press Azura for information. "How? How could you know how it's like?" he asked.

She considered how to say this. She measured how many words it would take, and said, "While ago, a tree fell on my mom's legs, breaking them." Rusti cocked his head. Apparently that wasn't enough. "My mom was fighting Grimm. A Beowulf made a tree fall on my mom, and her legs broke. While here, her legs probably could have been healed so that she could walk again, but to this day she hasn't—says it's too painful."

Rusti's jaw seemed to drop. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

"No, I'm just… I never thought… I'm sorry. It must be very difficult talking about this."

"Yeah."

Rusti was quiet for a while. "So how did you get over it?"

"Really, sometimes I envy her; she doesn't have to go fight Grimm. But other times, I feel sorry for her. She's my mother, and for ten years she's barely left the house." She felt something odd; an itchy liquid running down her face. She rubbed the liquid onto her glove and she examined it. She had been crying.

"So I should visit my brother?" Rusti said.

"Yeah," she replied, and put her arm down.

"Then I'll go later this afternoon."

She nodded. It was good that he decided to. Now she wouldn't have to listen to him.

"Hey." Azura looked to her right to the source of the voice. It was Crystal. "Are you excited for the next match?"

"Yep," Rusti said. "Who was SNOW fighting again?"

"Team JNPR."

* * *

 **Yes, team JNPR. This is going to be fun.**


	5. Chapter 5: Clash of Champions

**You know how this goes if you've seen Volume 3. But if you haven't, this is gonna be fun!**

* * *

Crystal took her seat in the arena. She hadn't watched a match like this before, except once when the tournament was held in Mistral quite a while ago, and that was before she really got the hang of her semblance. She could get better angles of the fight than the cameras or even the combatants ever could. Next to her, Rayne asked, "Who do you think will win?"

That was tough. While she knew that both Nora Valkyrie and Pyrrha Nikos were formidable fighters just by their reputation, SNOW had beaten her own team, so she was kind of split. She was also more interested in the fight because two legendary fighters from their respective areas were about to fight: Nikos and Songbird. Songbird had devastated the Atlas tournament scene for years, making records for both how fast she finished matches and for most tournaments won in Atlas. Meanwhile, Nikos had been undefeated throughout her entire career. She went for the one she knew was more skilled. "I'd say Songbird's going to win," Crystal said.

"I'd say so too," Ember said who was sitting on the other side of Rayne from Crystal.

"Hey, did you hear about team GRDN?" Rusti said who was to Crystal's right. "They got disqualified for unnecessary roughness."

"Roughness?" Azura said. "People had bullet wounds afterward."

"I heard about that," Rayne said. "Poor team WHRI; nobody from Shade got past the first round."

"Didn't that one team get past though?" Crystal said. She couldn't remember the team's name."I don't know. I just know that most of those teams didn't get anywhere close; it's a not a great time to be from Shade, I guess."

The two teams, after exchanging a few words, assumed fighting stances. And then the match began.

Immediately, Oxford retreated into the nearby forest. When she thought about it, Crystal didn't know why Oxford was there; in the last match, Oxford barely did anything. But then, when he began firing at Valkyrie and Nikos, she knew that the two could be in trouble.

Whitney singled out Valkyrie as Oxford singled out Nikos. Whitney attacked Valkyrie with such ferocity that Valkyrie had to give significant ground onto the stone flats.

Nikos had been pinned down by Oxford quite effectively. When she tried to move on Oxford's position, he shot at her armored legs below her shield. While her aura and armor was enough to keep the bullets from injuring her, he did manage to trip her up, discouraging her from advancing. So that was why he was brought along.

Meanwhile, Whitney made a possibly critical error. She fired her rifles at Valkyrie, but she had switched her ammo from normal to electrical rounds. "Looks like someone didn't see JNPR's last match," the deep voiced announcer said. "Nora's semblance is to absorb electricity to enhance her strength."

Supercharged, Nora swung her hammer at Whitney. Instead of trying to dodge, she raised her weapons to block the attack. When Nora struck, an enormous noise was produced. It was so loud that Crystal's ears hurt even from her seat nearly a hundred feet from them.

Valkyrie, who was at ground zero of the sonic explosion, crumbled to the ground. Whitney seemed mostly unaffected and struck Valkyrie with both her blades, shattering her aura. "Oh, she did watch that match!" the announced corrected himself.

"Indeed," the fast talking one said. "If anyone could use someone's own strength against them, it's Miss Songbird."

Nikos was still pinned by Oxford, and Whitney was now closing in on her. Desperate, Nikos ducked behind a tree, and threw her shield into the forest. While it didn't hit Oxford at first, it bounced off the trees, and hit Oxford so hard his aura collapsed. "Now it's down to Songbird and Nikos," the deep throated one said.

Whitney charged Nikos, and was about to hit her with both of her armblades, when Nikos's shield returned, and she was able to block the attack. They battled, each blow ringing out louder than they would naturally. Nikos winced at every blow; the noises were getting to her. Finally, the fight was here that had been speculated about for years: Nikos versus Songbird.

Nikos's focus was not at its best, but it was enough, perhaps, to take down Whitney.

After a long time of fighting, both their auras were low. Whitney had knocked Nikos's sword out of her hand. The match was about to end.

Whitney jumped into the air, slammed her armblades onto Nikos's shield, and landed on her feet. As she was about to swing the blades at Nikos's back, Nikos crouched, spun around with her leg outstretched, kicking Whitney's legs out from under her. She feel face first onto the ground, which looked very much like it hurt a lot. Then Nikos took the opportunity to slam her shield into Whitney, collapsing her aura. "And the match ends with victory for Pyrrha Nikos and team JNPR!" the deep voiced announcer said. "Now everyone get your ears checked!"

Crystal saw Whitney getting chewed out by her teammates as she was leaving the arena. She felt sorry for her; it reminded her of her father scolding her after failing one of his insane tests. But her mind was not on Whitney but Nikos.

How did Nikos do all that? To the common man, it might seem that it was destiny that she could do those things, but Crystal saw more than that. Subtle changes in Whitney's movements made it seem like her armor and weapons were moving on their own. And when Nikos threw her shield, it ricocheted with such unnatural angles. That settled it; she could somehow control objects telekinetically or something, perhaps even magnetism.

Was it magnetism? It had to have been, because if it had been telekinesis, why hadn't she made a tree branch or something fall on Oxford, which would have given her an opportunity to advance on him. It had to be so!

But magnetism? If it was magnetism, then she would have no power over Crystal's weapons. With her advanced training and non-metallic weapons, she would definitely be able to defeat Pyrrah easily. What was supposed to be the invincible girl could be overcome with a wooden staff.

Crystal grinned.

Rusti took noticed of this. "What are you smiling about?" Rusti asked.

"Oh, nothing," she replied. Knowledge was power, and if everyone knew this little gem then everyone and no one would have that power. So for now, no one needed to know about her discovery.

The next match soon started. She wanted to know all she could about how other people fought, so that perhaps she could learn something from them—some trick her father and instructors had missed when teaching her. Even if she could learn nothing, though, this was certainly entertaining.

* * *

 **Missed it by that much.**


	6. Chapter6Mystery of the White Haired Girl

**Before you read this chapter, let me tell you one thing: I know that Feather's name was poorly chosen. I started with the name, and turned it into a character. But let me just say that I hope this chapter makes it somewhat right.**

* * *

Storm ducked as Feather's swords swung where his head had been a moment ago. He quickly counterattacked, hitting her back with his sword. Feather stumbled forward, but quickly gained her footing again.

Sparring with Feather could be somewhat relaxing. It kept him on his toes, as it kept Feather on hers. After losing sleep last night thinking about General Ironwood's words, he needed something to help get his mind off it.

Not much lingered with him as consistently as Ironwood's words. To think Rayne could be a terrorist… he wanted to put as much distance between him and those memories. And so, he sparred.

Feather was a tough one, alright. Well over half the fights they'd fought between each other, she'd won, and only a few of those at the start had been because of him throwing the match. But he did manage to pull a few victories out. They'd been sparring since after breakfast, with lunch soon approaching.

He had noticed something odd about her though—she seemed a lot taller in her armor than her uniform, and it wasn't due to the boots. Feather must have been slouching most of time, which was a little odd. Feather was a lot taller than most women he'd met, with only his sister Tress being as tall, and his family agreed, Tress was kind of a giant at 5'10. He shrugged and continued to fight.

He charged, shield up, and blocked a double hit from Feather's swords. The weapons clanged together, and he slashed his sword across her torso. And with that, the buzzer sounded, and Feather's aura was down.

He disengaged. "Good match," Storm said.

"Good match," Feather replied, half-heartedly.

Now they were going to have to wait a while to give their auras a chance to regenerate. It was during these times that they chose to talk to each other. He'd learned things about her, and he'd admitted certain things about himself just to keep the conversation going. And now it was time to talk again.

"So, what do what to talk about now?" Storm asked.

Feather looked nervous. "I would be grateful if you chose the topic," Feather replied.

"Okay." He was unsure of what to talk about right away, but he thought of a good one. "How about middle names?"

Feather nodded her head. "What is your middle name then?"

"Rook, oddly enough," Storm said.

"Storm Rook Sapphire?" Feather said, trying it out.

"Yeah, sounds kinda good, right?" She shook her head side to side, in a sort of "maybe, maybe not" way. Feeling a little insulted, he said, "Alright then, what's your middle name?"

"Faye." He was a little surprised. He actually liked that better than her first name.

"Wow. And your first name is 'Feather'?"

She sighed while nodding and closing her eyes. "My parents are wonderful people, but even they have their failings. Even then, they must not have accounted for the obvious ramifications of naming a Faunus such as myself 'Feather'."

"Maybe they didn't know you'd be a… bird Faunus." He'd have to ask what kind of bird after this.

"That would be extremely unlikely, as both of them are of the same breed as I."

There was a slight pause before Storm asked, "Do you like your name?"

"Not very much. I would rather my first name be Faye, all things considered."

"Then why don't you go by Faye?" Storm asked. "I considered going by Rook more than once before."

"Would not that be dishonest, though?" Feather answered.

"Pretty sure people do it all the time." He'd heard of plenty of people doing it, but didn't know anyone like that personally.

"Well… Yes. Yes I think I will," Feather said. "From now on, I think I might be called Faye." She stepped a little closer to Storm. "Thank you for your counsel."

"You're welcome. Now all you need is to start talking a little more normal, and you might not get so many strange looks," he said jokingly. She looked at him somewhat hurt. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said that."

"But you do have a point; I talk a little too rigidly," Feather—no, Faye—said. "But it is now engrained on me after too many fantasy novels. But I will thrive to say things less like this."

"You don't have to change if you don't want to," Storm said, trying to make it clear he wasn't forcing her into anything.

"If it is all the same to you, I would like to change the subject," she said.

"Right." After a moment, and trying to find a better way of saying it, he asked, "What kind of bird are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I am not a dove, if that is what you are asking," she explained. "I am not like any small bird at all. I am considered a Gyrfalcon Faunus."

He thought for a moment. He hadn't heard of a gyrfalcon before, so he would have to look it up later. For now he said, "Okay."

A bell sounded, announcing that it was noon. "Lunchtime," Storm said. "Come on, Faye."

She grinned. It seemed to please her that he'd used it. He smiled as well, and they left the sparring hall room behind.

There were not as many students in the halls than he remembered. It was probably due to all the food at the fairgrounds. But he and Faye didn't much care to spend their money on every meal of the day, so they went to the cafeteria.

On the way, Storm asked, "Do you want to tell everyone, or do you want me to?"

Faye sighed. "I think I should, if only because it is my name," she replied. "But if you could help me, I would appreciate it."

"Of course."

They went into the cafeteria, got their lunch, and went to sit down with their collection of… acquaintances—he would not call most of them his friends, especially Rusti. Around the table, only Crystal was not present, who he assumed was buying her lunch at the fairgrounds. He and Feather—Faye—sat down next to their teammates, and began to eat their ham and cheese sandwiches.

"Been sparring?" Rusti asked. He almost said it like it was an innuendo almost, which both disturbed and slightly offended Storm.

But, since he couldn't think of any other response, Storm replied, "Yes."

After a pause, Faye spoke up. "So, I have, with counsel from Storm, decided to go by my middle name, Faye, from now on."

"Alright," Azura said, not really caring. Everyone else's reactions were more enthused though, and supportive.

Rusti was especially supportive. "I like that name; suits you better."

"Thank you, Rusti," Faye said.

"Quick question: how is it spelled?" Even though Rusti had asked it, Storm also wondered that. How was it spelled?

"F A Y E," she replied.

"Okay," Rusti replied. "I asked because most people, unless they see my name in print, get the spelling of my name wrong. They always have a Y instead of an I."

"I can see that," Ember said.

"What?" Rayne said as if he hadn't been listening.

"You weren't listening at all?" Storm said, a little angry.

"No."

He gave an exasperated groan. Rayne always did this!

Fortunately, Rusti summarized what had happened. "Long story short, Feather changed her name."

"To what?"

Storm sensed a mischievous note from Rusti as he said, "Farica."

"Huh. Okay." Rusti burst out laughing, and Faye seemed upset by all this. Rayne frowned. "That's not what she chose, is it?"

Storm sighed. "No. She decided to go by her middle name, Faye."

"Huh. Good name." And Rayne turned back to his lunch. Well that was about all the conversation they were going to get out of him for the day.

* * *

 **So, how many people like the name Faye more than Feather? Personally, I like Faye more.**


	7. Chapter 7: Admissions

**Just in case you thought I forgot about the stuff with Rusti:**

* * *

Rusti stood outside the apartment door, nervous. After all this time being sure this was the right thing, he started having doubts again. How could he face his brother after all this time?

Would Tyson be mad? He hadn't even gone to see him after the accident, so this would be the first time since then. He also wasn't so sure about whether or not Tyson really liked him going to Haven. And what if…? No. He would face Tyson, no matter what feelings either of them had.

He gave the door three knocks. No turning back now.

It was a little while before he was answered. He almost thought that Tyson was out somewhere. But after a few minutes, the door opened. He had to look down to see Tyson was sitting in a wheelchair on the other side.

Tyson looked surprised to see him. "I thought you were someone else. Goodbye," Tyson said. And he closed the door. After a few seconds, Tyson opened the door up, grinning. "Just kidding. Come on in, Rusti."

As Tyson wheeled away from the door, Rusti came in. The apartment was awfully neat, especially since Tyson wasn't forcing him to clean it. He walked into the living room where Tyson waited for him. "Come on. Sit down," Tyson said.

Rusti closed the door behind him, and sat down on the brown couch in the living room. "I see you're doing fine without me," Rusti said.

"Yeah, I actually have an assistant now," Tyson said with a smile.

"So wait, you have someone who you pay to clean up after you? Well, I shouldn't have left for Haven then; I could have made a decent living off your messes."

Tyson laughed. "No, my assistant does more than clean up. Someone's finally funding my work!"

"That's fantastic!" Rusti said. Tyson was a genius when it came to exoskeletal enhancements. While they may have military applications, the benefit to those who couldn't walk otherwise would overshadow that. With his designs, not only could Tyson walk without fear of failing over and breaking a bone, but he also run. This was great news.

"Yeah, it's finally coming together," Tyson said with a grin. "Unlike you. I saw your match; brutal. Just brutal."

"Yeah. I think that guy was blind, so I went easy on him."

"You go easy on everyone."

"Not true; I gave that hammer strike against the big guy my all."

"And yet, you still couldn't save the maiden from the beast."

"True, but I'm not into her anyway."

"Who are you into; the blue haired chick?"

He chuckled. Azura _really_ wasn't his type. "No. But what about you; are you seeing someone?"

Tyson thought for a moment. "Not really. I don't meet a lot of people nowadays; too focused on my work."

"You have my sympathies."

They continued to talk about this and that. Rusti found out nothing about who was funding Tyson's research, but that wasn't important to him. After an hour, Rusti said, "Well, it's been fun, but I've got to go."

"Okay. See you another time."

Rusti saw himself out, smiling. It had been good to see his brother again, even if it was for only a short time. But right now, he had to get back to Beacon before dinner, or the singles round started.

"Oof." He wasn't looking where he was going, and bumped into someone as he was heading out.

"Sorry. I'm sorry," he said. He looked at who he bumped into, and was surprised. It was a slender young woman with black hair, pale skin, magnificent indigo eyes, and a black and purple kimono. She was gorgeous. He put on his most suave voice, and said, "What might your name be, ma 'mm?"

"Unimportant to you," she said bitterly, and walked past him.

"Hey, give me a chance," he said, in pursuit.

She looked at him for a moment. "You're six foot, heavily muscled, and look too much like Tyson not to be related." How did she know Tyson? "You're too young to be his father or uncle, and since his cousins are primarily girls or too young to be you, you are Rusti Tolkien, seducer of women, and attempted slayer of monsters. Not interested."

"How do you know…?" he started to say, inching closer to her.

"Not interested!" Her hands glowed, and she pushed him back stronger than he would have thought she could. "Now if you'll excuse me." She opened the door to Tyson's apartment and went inside.

So that was Tyson's assistant. He had to say, he was impressed.

* * *

Storm's legs were kicked out from under him, and he hit the floor. Then he tumbled out of the way before Faye smashed where he had been with her five foot long swords. Faye was getting aggressive.

Storm ran away, turning his sword into a rifle, and fired at Faye. She dodged with unusual speed, and ran at him. She closed the gap between them fast, and attacked again. He couldn't raise his shield in time, and he got hit right in the chest.

He fell flat on his back, his aura was out, and Faye had won. "Good match," Faye said, putting her swords away and offering him a hand.

"Good match," he replied, accepting Faye's help up. "I barely got one hit in that match. How'd that happen."

"Perhaps you are tired, Storm."

"No, you were faster that time. How?"

Faye looked nervous. Maybe pressing the issue was a mistake. But she explained anyway. "It is part of the nature of my semblance."

"You're semblance?" He had tried piecing together what her semblance was from her fighting style. She somehow was able to control the metal feathers she launched from her wings, but it wasn't magnetism—he knew that someone else had that. She had also displayed a myriad of other minor abilities, though downplayed them significantly. He wondered what it was.

"My semblance is… complicated," she said. "Few know it."

He burned with curiosity. He wanted her to tell him what it was, but didn't want to push her too much. If she didn't want to talk about it, then he'd respect her. He gave a cautious, "What is it?"

"My semblance is to mimic the semblance of another." What?! "If I know someone else's semblance, I can mimic it, though only to a certain degree. You notice I tried using the speed of that Ruby Rose in that last match."

"Yeah."

"That is almost as fast as I can go. I can mimic, not duplicate. It also takes a portion of my aura each time I start mimicking a semblance, and I can only mimic one at a time."  
Still, if she had the knowledge, she could be as powerful a fighter as anyone, and best any opponent. Though one question still lingered in his mind. "How can you mimic magnetism? I know whose it is, and she keeps it a secret. How do you know about it?"

"I spent years of study and speculation before realizing what was Pyrrha Nikos's semblance."

Wow. He couldn't spend years on any project like that. She had some crazy dedication. "Must have been tedious."

"Unlike anything I have ever know." Faye smiled, and Storm returned the gesture. Then they burst out laughing.

There was no one else like Faye.

* * *

 **So, semblance** **mimicry; probably been used by dozens of other fan fiction authors, but it's not in the show, so I'll just use it from now on... until they use it, and Faye and that person meet, and the world explodes.**

 **It's bad enough that they're going to Haven next volume. It'll probably kill my Stories! But at least I got this off.**


	8. Chapter 8: Secrets and Sunsets

**WWWWEEEEE! I'm posting so many chapters!**

* * *

There had been one thing that Faye had wanted to do since she had come to Beacon. While she knew that it was juvenile, and she didn't have the confidence then to do it, she wanted to anyway. And today she felt adventurous, what with all she had done already, so she decided she was going to do it. She was going to go to the top of the CCT tower.

Alongside her was Storm, who had helped convince her to do this. As he said it, "Life is full of too many regrets already. Why add a thing you didn't do to the things you did?"

So, using her wing pack, she took off. The jets on her back launched her up several feet a second. Storm followed, using the jets on his shin guards to propel him from handhold to handhold on the massive tower. Before long, they got up to the top.

They sat down side by side, and took in the sights.

The view from the roof of the CCT tower was magnificent. From there, they could see everything. All around them was Beacon academy, with students walking to the airfield for the upcoming singles round of the tournament. To the north were the city of Vale and the Amity Colosseum hanging above it. But to the east was the more beautiful sight of the setting sun. While it hurt her eyes to look, she could not help but glance at the golden sun going to rest beneath the earth.

She then turned to Storm, his face bathed in the light, his expression content. He had helped her with so much, and not even just today. She trusted him, and felt something different towards him; a connection that would not be easily severed. She had never felt like this towards anyone since Talon. She bit her lip at the unpleasant memory, and tried to force it away.

He seemed to notice her reaction, and his expression of contentment turned to one of concern. "What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing. I was just remembered something I would rather keep buried," she replied.

"I know how that is." No, he did not. He could never know what it was like. That kind of sorrow—that kind of betrayal—could never be felt by someone from such a stable background. He could only guess what she was felt. As if to prove her wrong, he said with renewed concern, "Faye, I can sense your emotions. What's wrong?"

"I…" She looked down at the roof. "Do not pry, Storm, for this is one mystery I do not intend to let you solve."

"Okay," he said, backing off. She did not mean it like that. She simply wanted him to stop pressuring her, not…

Before she could try to remedy the situation, a voice spoke behind them. "So, Storm." Faye turned around and saw Storm's cousin Skye leaning against the transmitter on the center of the roof. Her bejeweled armor seemed to glow from the setting sun's light. The expression on her golden face was one of concern. "Time for that talk."

Faye wondered whether she be there or not. Before she could ask, Skye said, "Feather, could you leave us?"

She almost sneered at the woman, and extended her wings to leave. Before she left, she said to Storm, "Goodbye, Storm. I will see you at the dorm." And she took off, half angry, half sad.

Now whatever wound she had inflicted on Storm would have time to fester, and grow into a more sizable problem. She wondered if this would affect the trust between them; the trust built on honesty.

She glided down to the ground, and looked back up. She hoped that she could talk to him before the day was done.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Storm said, half angry that Skye had driven Faye off, and half concerned for his cousin's welfare. Skye had told him that they would have a talk soon, but that was yesterday. Then again, he had learned that the word "soon" had taken up the meaning "a long time from now" in the modern vernacular. But he was adamant to find out what Skye had to say.

"You know, the usual; had to rescue a kidnapped girl, which I accomplished, and later got myself kidnapped, and had to break out before my dad could get there because then I could be all 'didn't need you'."

Storm cocked his head. "You have a strange life."

"That's true," she said. "But you'll have a life like it in a few years." Skye sat down beside him. Her aura told him that she had trepidation about something she had to do, and possibly wanted someone else to do it. "While your mother should be giving you this talk, I'm the next most convenient person to tell you this, as Redell doesn't know, and my dad has a knack of not being able to explain this well. And keep in mind, I just found this out a few years ago."

Storm shifted in his spot. Whatever she was about to say, it was nothing small.

She breathed in deeply, and began. "In this world there are secrets; organizations and conspiracies that would change the world if people knew about them. But there is something far worse than anything these people know. Even now, a force works to change the world in ways too terrible to know. But then there's something worse.

"There is a secret known only to those born of the Sapphire line. My mom and your dad don't know this little gem. Redell and Rayne haven't been told yet, and for good reason, as those two are nothing but trouble. But I think, as well as your mom, my dad, your brother and sister, grandpa Laken, and Aunt Hope, that you're ready for this secret. Do you think you're ready?"

He stopped and considered this. Was he ready? He did believe himself more mature than Rayne, but that had nothing to do with it. Was he ready for his whole world to possibly crash down around him? He never would be, but now was as good a time as any. "Yes."

"Good, now we can begin." Her hand began to glow, and a glowing blue disc formed on the palm of her glove. "I shouldn't need to tell you that great aunt Locaster was a pioneer in aura techniques. She discovered more things about the nature of aura than anyone still alive today. But not even a tenth of her techniques are publically known. This is one of them—knowledge transfer. You are about to receive the knowledge from over four generations of Sapphires. Open your mind, and face the ocean of memories."

Skye put her hand on his shoulder, and in ten seconds he learned more than he ever had in a year. He wished that his other teachers could be so efficient. When she was done, his head ached, and both their auras had been drained.

Skye swayed her head back and forth before shaking herself out of her trance. It seemed like she had gone through what he had but only worse. "Sorry about that," she said. "So, what do you think?"

Storm glared at Skye. "You keep this a secret from everyone? Even the military; even the schools; even the governments have no idea what's truly going on?"

"Yes."

His jaw dropped. "They could do something about this!"

"No!" she said urgently, grasping him by the shoulders. "None of them can know! This threat… You may not have processed all the memories yet, but every time someone other than a Sapphire finds out, they tell everyone. It's almost genetic that we are the best at keeping secrets in Remnant. And whenever too many people find out…"

"… People die," Storm finished, shocked he hadn't seen the memory sooner. "I know. I'm sorry. It's just… It's a lot to take in right now."

Skye withdrew her hands from his shoulders, and put them at her sides. "It's okay. I had the same reaction when I found out. But this has to be a secret. Even if this became public knowledge today, it would be buried by tomorrow. No one can know until one of us destroys them.

"Our world is more fragile than anyone realizes. There are things that lurk in shadows too deep to know of, and evils too terrible to imagine. Until such things have been defeated, bringing them into the light will do no good to anyone. No one else can know about the Order unless they're going to fight it, and even then, they might not even need to. Do you understand?"

He nodded. "Good. Now, don't talk about this to anyone. If anyone asks, I talked to you about great aunt Locaster." He didn't like lying—it was something he had a moral objection to—but this was a little more important than him. "Don't even think about it. To you, the Order doesn't exist until the family decides to fight it."

"Okay."

"Good. Now I've got to climb down from here." She rose to a crouch, and inched towards the edge.

"How'd they get a name like that anyway?"

"Not sure," Skye said as she was about to climb off. "They had to be the order of something. Why not that?"

He shrugged, and she went down. Now he had to go after Faye!

* * *

 **So, theories on who these guys are? I thought so. Leave a review saying what you think about these guys.**


	9. Chapter 9: Broken Dreams and Broken legs

**And now for Storm and Faye to make up (and make out? No, no, I don't do that kind of fanfic).**

* * *

Faye walked out of the bathroom, her hair wet—her feathers didn't get wet. After a long day sparring, she had decided to wash the sweat off her, and put her uniform on. She was just about to sit down on her bed when Storm came in. While some may have been able to sense his emotions from his aura, she had neither the training nor the talent to do so. His face though showed some emotion, but she didn't know how to read it. "Hey, Faye," Storm said, visibly regretting his choice of word immediately.

"That was not intentional, was it?" Faye asked.

"I didn't mean to rhyme, no," he said, almost cracking up. "I'll just say 'hello, Faye' from now on, okay?"

"That would be preferable, yes," she replied.

"Okay." He paused before continuing. "I'm sorry for Skye; I didn't know she'd be up there."

"I am surprised that she even got up there," she said as she sat down.

"Well, considering her… talents, it's actually not so that surprising." He sat on the bed opposite her, and looked her in the eye. "So, um…"

She was not sure what to do next. Perhaps something explaining her behavior from before. So, she simply said, "I am sorry if I acted rudely before, but… There are things about me that I would rather not tell you."

"Of course," Storm said. "There's some stuff I don't want you knowing either." At least he understood. "But I only asked because I'm concerned for you. And I guess I got a little too carried away. I thought I could fix all your problems, but I guess there are some subjects that are a little too sensitive."

She grimaced. She did not want him to think he was underappreciated. "While I am thankful for your help before, I… It is not something I would like to discuss with anyone, even my parents."

"I understand," Storm said. She hoped that he truly did.

A silence formed between them. With each passing moment, it became harder to break the silence. She was unsure what to do.

The sun had set, but the sky outside was still a golden orange. Amity Colosseum hung high in the sky. She almost wondered how the tournament was going.

As if to answer her half interest, Rusti burst in, excited. "The last transport to the colosseum is about to leave, and you don't want to miss the first singles round!" he said.

"Really?" Storm said.

"Yeah. There are some of the best fighters in all the schools fighting here, and they are going to be something to watch."

She was interested. The best fighters meant that they had either a powerful semblance, a technique to use their semblance in an effective way, or were just so tough that their semblance was only a backup measure. In any case, it would prove an educational experience. "I think I will go," she said.

Storm looked at her surprised, but then with understanding. Then he surprised her. "I'll go too," Storm said.

Rusti smiled, and said, "Let's go."

* * *

Storm took his seat in the colosseum. To his right were Faye and his teammates, and to his left were team CCRE, Skye, Redell, and Redell's partner—a noble looking woman named Nixie. Where the rest of Redell's team was, he wasn't sure. Crystal decided to sit next to Nixie, and Storm didn't know what to make of that. Storm had his eyes on the arena though, and the lineup.

The faces down in the arena were mostly unknown to him. Some were from Atlas, others Mistral and Vacuo, and of course those from Vale. Pyrrah was done there, of course, as if she wasn't he'd be very surprised.

But one down there was Mercury Black, supposedly from Haven, but Storm had never seen him before. Why had he never seen him before? Well, it was probably inconsequential, since he hadn't known if Scarlet David of SSSN was a man or a woman before a few days ago, when it was quite brutally beaten into his head that he was a guy—he didn't even know what Sage meant by that. But if Mercury wasn't from Haven, then why—and more importantly, how—did he infiltrate the tournament, and have everybody fooled like this. He'd have to do some research afterwards, or else his curiosity would drive him crazy.

When the fighters were chosen, the rest stepped off the floor. The two fighters were Yang Xiao Long, and Mercury Black. So perhaps he would learn something about him after all. The two took fighting positions, and readied themselves.

"You know, I dated Yang once," Rusti said, but from where Storm was sitting, it was hard to hear him. "Shortest date I've ever been on. Also, girl with the shortest temper I've ever met. She challenged me to a sparring match the day after."

"Who was it who won?" Faye asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" No, it really wasn't.

Then the match began.

He was quite impressed by both of their performances.

But he was especially interested in Xiao Long. Every time Yang's aura was damaged, the next time Mercury was hit, his aura took even larger drops. Either she was channeling her anger into her attacks—something he had observed Cirocco did, which wasn't exactly psychologically healthy—or her semblance was to hit harder every time she was hit. If it was her semblance, then Faye would possibly be unstoppable if she knew it.

Then, when Mercury's semblance was depleted, the match was over. Yang Xiao Long stood victorious, and Mercury was obviously defeated.

Then something strange happened. He sensed one thing, and saw another. He sensed, or saw the ghost of an image of Mercury attacked Yang one last time. But what he saw was Yang randomly attacking Mercury. But the result was the same; Mercury was one the ground, grasping his leg.

Mercury's leg was apparently broken. The crowd was dismayed, shocked, angry, and concerned. Storm felt so disoriented by their reaction, he had to turn off his ability to sense emotions. They weren't happy.

He observed the occurrence with one thought that everyone seemed to share. "So, Beacon decided to have one of their representatives be a psychopath," he said. Rusti looked at him questioningly. "What? She clearly is."

"I know, but… Now's not the time for making jokes," Rusti said, sounding the most serious he had ever sounded. He didn't even know Rusti could be that serious.  
"This could cause a diplomatic incident," Crystal said, concerned. And then she said more softly, "So this is her plan."

"Who's plan?" Nixie asked.

"Someone I'm going to go find. Stay here." Crystal got up from her seat, and began to make her way out.

"I'm going with you!" Storm said. He was concerned for his friend, as he would for any friend of his.

"As am I," Nixie said.

"You do not have your weapon with you, Nixie, and it may come to that," Crystal said, stopping. Storm had thought it odd that Crystal had worn her combat garb to the tournament, and had brought her weapons. Perhaps it was for things like this that she did.

But Nixie was in her school uniform without a weapon of any kind, so she would be worse than useless in a fight. "I do not need the Frost Blade to do battle," Nixie said proudly.

"Perhaps, but I would feel better if you had it." Crystal gestured to Storm to follow her, and he did. Now he was very glad that he had been sparring earlier, because he had his combat suit and weapons.

"I'd like to tag along," Skye said. She had her bejeweled armor and her dual katana, and she was one of the fiercest fighters Storm had seen in action.

"No." No? "Storm and I can handle this."

* * *

 **So, Cinder/Crystal rematch?**


	10. Chapter 10: Interference

**Oh, I just remembered, Cinder can't die, and a Crystal/Storm combo would annihilate a half-baked seasonal Maiden. So, time for something even more fun.**

* * *

Storm was beside her as Crystal marched through the hallways if the colosseum. She was looking out with her semblance, searching in advance before moving forward. She was looking for Cinder.

She had been waiting for this. Crystal had been told to reinforce Ember and Rayne if and when they found Cinder back in Mistral, but since their memories had been wiped of their assignment, Crystal had to wait until Cinder had shown herself to make a move. It had been an easy wait, all things considered, and now she was going to have a rematch.

What had been most difficult to do was watch Ember through this. Her only reason for going to Haven was to stop Cinder, and since she had forgotten, Ember had been a wreck. She had questioned much, and even considered dropping out. It had pained Crystal to keep it a secret from her, but she had no idea how to break it to Ember.

She turned a corner, and before her was standing a man she could not see with her semblance. The man wore a long black coat and other garments. His hair was black, and his eyes were dark, making the contrast between them and his pale skin even greater. There was something gloomy about him that she couldn't quite pin down. He was the same man who had wiped her memories, and the memories of her teammates.

But why could she not see him?

"You will not pass," the man said commandingly.

Crystal was outraged. "You presume to tell me where I can go?" she replied.

"I do not presume, but I tell you a simple truth; you will not step one foot past me while I stand here," he explained.

"Now doesn't that make me want to do it even more," Storm said mischievously.

Crystal decided that he had to be an associate of Cinder, because no one else would try this with her. Also because no one else would be this gloomy. She decided that in order to get past him, she would have to fight him.

Seemingly sensing her thoughts, he said, "I am no ally of her. She is the enemy of us both. But her plan is too far along at this point, so removing her now would only do more damage. She might be replaced by someone else, and that would cause far more damage than one would think. So I say again; you will not pass."

Crystal did not care for plans or for allegiances. She only cared about justice now, and vengeance—and she would bring Cinder to both tonight, if she had her way. She drew her swords, and charged him.

She jumped and flipped to gain momentum. As she was completing the flip, a black blur separate of the man leapt in front of her, and blocked her attack.

She stepped back and saw what had blocked her: a black shield, thick, with gears placed about it. The shield lowered, and the user was revealed. It was a tall and slender woman in black and purple, and on her face was a white Grimm mask larger and more complete than the ones worn by the members of the White Fang. Compared to the user, the shield was huge.

"Death's Hand gives one the power to choose who will live and who will die," the man said, seemingly amused. "And who commands Death's Hand but Death?"

"So you're death?" Crystal challenged.

"No, no, no," he said, even more amused. "My name is Jet. She is death. But one even more terrible commands us."

The sound of gears whirring came from behind Crystal, and the woman in black ran in front of Jet just as a gunshot hit her shield. Crystal looked behind her, and saw Storm with his rifle. Then another whom she had not seen before appeared, and attacked Storm.

This newcomer was a man with flaming red hair, and green coat, and a sabre. His sword moved quickly, and it made a jingling sound like a wind chime. This man made three enemies—so much for outnumbering them.

The man fought quickly too. Storm tried kicking his feet out from under him, but he anticipated the move, and jumped over Storm's leg. Storm had to keep his shield up, because if not, he'd be very dead fast.

She checked, and she could see both the woman and the man clearly with her semblance. She called out to Storm, "Switch." He nodded, and Crystal charged at the redhead.

The man tried to dodge, but Crystal managed to catch him with her blade. She shattered it, and the other, in favor of a rapier and parrying knife. Even if he was quick, she saw everything.

They exchanged attacks as Storm charged the black clothed woman. She hoped that he could defeat that woman.

Before the redhead swung his sword to attack, Crystal saw it, and prepared to block. But oddly enough, he stopped just short of her blade, and withdrew. She prepared to lunge, and just as she was about to, he began to put up his sword, and she stopped. For some reason he could anticipate her movements just as much as she could anticipate hers.  
Crystal feigned an attack on his left, then spun around and attacked his right. He blocked, and when she tried to slip her knife between the locked blades, he grabbed her arm.

They then stared at each other, waiting for the other's movements. After a while, Crystal managed to withdraw, and was ready to block a counterattack, but none came.  
They just stood eight feet away from each other, staring into each other's eyes. His eyes were brown, like her father's, but that was inconsequential. But she also saw that he made the smallest smile when she had noticed his eye color and a frown when she decided it was inconsequential.

So he could read her thoughts. A sudden fright came across his face, confirming that his telepathic power. And she smiled, knowing no what she would do.

She charged, not thinking about her next attack, not caring about defense, but instead pure instinct. She delivered wild attack after attack, and managed to have him on the run. All the while she had one tune going through her head—a tune that had been stuck in her head that morning—, so as to cause a distraction for the telepath. She attacked until she knocked his rapier from his hand, and it fell to the ground.

"Well, isn't that an inconvenience," the man said in a Vacuo accent. "Jet, mind giving me a hand?"

Crystal looked to the battle between Storm and the black clothed woman. Her shield had turned into a blade, and Storm's shield had several fist shaped dents in it. Had she made those dents? It didn't matter because Storm had her on the run.

"As much as I hate to," Jet said, "I suppose I must." Jet outstretched his gloved hand, and a symbol on it began to glow. She remembered that being a problem.

Before he could do anything, she began to charge him. Behind her the redhead reached for his sword, but she turned back and slammed the pommel of her rapier into his head, knocking him out cold. Then she turned back to Jet, and charged.

Before she could get to him though, light burst from the symbol, and pain shot through her skull. Then her eyes closed, and she collapsed to the hard ground. After drifting through darkness for who knows how long, she opened her eyes, and didn't see her attackers anymore.

She tried to remember Cinder, and she could. So her memory hadn't been wiped again—good, but confusing.

She looked around, and saw Storm lying nearby. She stood up, and went over to Storm. She knelt beside him, and shook his shoulder. He sat up and said with blurry eyes, "Did I oversleep again?" After helping him up, he seemed to realize where he was, and said, "Well this hasn't been a good week for me when it comes to fighting. I'd lose to a guy with no arms at this rate."

She sighed. Cinder probably wasn't around anymore.

Those three… She wondered who they were, and what stake they had in this. But she had a sense—a premonition of sorts—that this wouldn't be the last time they would trouble her or her friends.

* * *

 **Heh, heh, heh, so I'm having fun with this.**


	11. Chapter 11: Fox in the Garden

**Hey, does anyone remember how much I hated chapter 11 in Part 1? Yeah, well, here's me writing something I don't completely understand again.  
** **Two quick things though: GRDN is pronounced "garden", and AWLH is pronounced "owl". Just wanted to make sure you knew.**

* * *

"This design is really genius," Storm said, marveling at the weapon in his hands. Faye had decided that it was time for her teammates to meet the team of a friend of hers—team AWLH—and he couldn't help but admire the team leader's weapons: dual Gladius that both could turn into spears. They had met up in a lounge set aside for students from Haven, a comfy room really, though he hadn't been there before now. After the incidents last night, this meet up was welcome.

The people he had fought… Were they…? No, he shouldn't think about that stuff.

Instead, he focused on the silvery turquoise weapon in his hand.

"Thanks you," Athena, the owner of the weapon, said. "It gets a little difficult to use both of them as spears, but spinning them helps."

"Spinning?" Storm replied, laughing a little, and handed the blade back to Athena.

"Yeah, spinning's just one trick." She extended the Gladius into its spear form to help illustrate. "An even more ridiculous one is where I sneak up behind a Grimm and go through its head with the spears."

Storm raised his eyebrows. "Through the head?"

"Yes."

He just stood there, slack jawed. "That's got to hurt."

"I only use it on Grimm." She retracted the spear, and sheathed it behind her back. "Even if I fought humans, I wouldn't use it against them."

He nodded. She didn't even consider if Grimm could feel pain. It was something that bothered him sometimes—whether or not Grimm could feel pain. But it wouldn't be resolved now. He put the thought aside.

Nearby, he could overhear a conversation between Azura and Wade—another member of AWLH. "It's just distracting sometimes," Wade said.

"I don't like wearing them either," Azura said. "Miniskirts are so drafty sometimes."

It was then that Rusti interjected. "Personally, I'm surprised that you haven't knocked out a male student and taken his pants."

Azura was quiet for a moment. "Didn't think of that," she said. "Thanks." Now he was afraid.

Nearby, Faye was talking to Lorna—her friend on the team. He decided not to try and listen in on their conversation.

The door to the lounge opened, and Storm looked over to see the newcomer—or newcomers. Fear spiked in his chest as team GRDN walked in.

Team GRDN was the most feared team from Haven. Their team leader, Gaia, preferred wearing armor and her brown coat at all times, and was almost never seen without her axes. Reika was the most controlled out of all of them, and preferred her red lamellar armor to modern types, and wore her katana proudly, with her kunai hidden. Dinorah he wasn't sure about, as all he knew about her was that she wore a crimson tunic and pants under a golden cuirass, and used a couple of laia as weapons. Netia was the worst  
Netia was the fiercest and most borderline psychotic of anyone Storm had ever been within fifty feet of. Her military coat, flak jacket, green fatigues, and boots made her out to be the military sort, but that was far from the truth. Her crazed nature had caused her to build the most dangerous weapon he'd ever seen—a mini-gun that would turn into a chainsaw on command. If any one person could give him nightmares, it was her.

Gaia led her team over to where Storm and the others were talking. At this juncture, Rusti decided to duck out a window. Netia grinned her usual psychotic grin, and said, "Oh, did we scare little Rusti away again?"

"How's he gonna fight Grimm if he runs from women?" Gaia said mockingly.

Lorna seemed not to notice their presence, and continued to talk with Faye. This annoyed Gaia. "Hey, Faunus."

"There are two Faunus, Gaia," Rieka said tiredly. "If you're going to be racist, be specific too."

"Alright then. Fox."

Lorna turned her head like she was just looking over to see a flower she had seen before. "Yes?" she replied.

"Do you know us?"

"I've heard of you, but I'd rather not get to know you."

Netia growled, her former grin disappearing. "We're team GRDN, you illiterate," Netia said, mispronouncing GRDN as guardian. "We are the toughest team around, and we'd win the tournament if they hadn't disqualified us."

"Oh really?" Lorna stepped forward. "I guarantee you that if we fight; you'll be on the ground in one minute."

"Oh?"

"Yep. And I won't even need to lay a finger on any of you."

"Let's see how tough you are, then," Dinorah chimed in. "Sparring match?"

"Sure. What time?"

"As soon as you're ready."

"Done."

* * *

Lorna stepped into the sparring ring, and Faye hopped she wasn't making a mistake. Taking on an entire team was tough, but Lorna could do it. Lorna had one year of experience more than them, and she was a graduate from Asylum. But GRDN had far superior numbers, were more dangerous, and might accidentally kill her. Faye worried for her friend.

Another thing that was worrying was that Lorna had not put her gauntlet, even though it was her primary weapon! She was confident; perhaps a little too confident.

Most of the teams from Faye's year were assembled. GRDN had been near terrorizing most of them, and so they wanted to see them humbled. Only team SSSN and a couple other teams weren't there, but GRDN never bothered them anyway.

GRDN stepped into the ring. With a hint—no, a gallon—of mischief Lorna said, "Come at me GRDN gals."

Gaia charged first alongside Dinorah, their weapons in hand. As they neared her, Lorna ran to the wall behind her. Faye had seen her used the trick before, and it was a killer. The duo pursued. As Lorna got to the wall, she ran up it, and jumped back at the two. When she did, her aura lit up like fire for a few seconds, and the two scattered.

Netia took the opportunity to open fire. Lorna dodged, and ran over to behind Gaia, where she was safe as Gaia took one too many hits to the aura, and she was down. "Netia!" Gaia shouted angrily.

"Sorry. You got in the way," Netia replied. Their concern for each other was nil, as anyone could see, and that was what would break them.

As Lorna went towards Dinorah, Rieka began throwing several kunai towards her. The small blades narrowly missed Lorna as she jumped and ducked in an erratic fashion.

Netia had been holding her fire after taking out Gaia, so Faye was wondering how Lorna would take out Dinorah. Lorna jumped to Dinorah, and she swung her weapons at her. Rieka drew her katana, and charged towards Lorna. As the red garbed warrior neared, Lorna was dodging every attack Dinorah was giving out.

Rieka lunged at Lorna, but she sidestepped to her left, safely out of the way. Instead her blade almost found Dinorah, but Rieka managed to stop her attack just in time. Rieka swung her blade at Lorna, and she narrowly avoided it again. Rieka gave up trying to attack with her katana, and tried grabbing her instead.

Lorna ran away, and took a bolo out of her belt. She threw it at Dinorah. Rieka tried intercepting it with her katana, but instead of cutting through the metal robes, it wrapped around the sword, and one of the attached weights hit her in the head. Her aura absorbed most of the hit, but it still managed to disorient her. Dinorah charged past her stunned teammate, and attacked.

Lorna threw down a smoke bomb, and Faye couldn't see what was happening. When the smoke cleared though, she could see the dazed forms of Dinorah and Rieka clearly, and they were very close to each other, was if they had knocked each other out. Lorna was standing over them, grinning.

Netia didn't hold back now. She fired at Lorna, and Lorna could barely dodge. Once again her aura lit up like fire, and Lorna charged at Netia in a serpentine maneuver. Netia's nerve wavered, and she switched to her chainsaw too early. She swung her weapon around wildly, and Lorna stopped.

Netia swung around the weapon too wildly, and she lost her grip on the chainsaw, making it fly out of her hands. Then she became hysterical, and collapsed.

Gaia ran over to Netia, seemingly concerned. She tried helping Netia, but it didn't work. Gaia turned back to Lorna, angry. "Look what you've done, Faunus!" Gaia said hatefully.  
Lorna stood there, shocked. Netia was curled up on the ground, shivering. She obviously didn't want this.

Gaia was no less angry though. "You take away her confidence, and this is what's left!"

Gaia carefully touched Netia's shoulder, and she shied away. Gaia tried another tactic. She whispered something to Netia, and she stood up with Gaia's support. Her face was shiny like she had been crying.

Faye had not expected this. Netia was more fragile than Faye would have thought. Why?

As Gaia led Netia out of the arena, she shot a hateful look back at Lorna.

Beside Faye, Storm held his head. Concerned, Faye asked, "What is it, Storm?"

Storm looked at her with a haunting expression. "Their emotions… They're too strong for me," he replied. "I've never sensed two people with stronger feelings." He stood up. "I need to help them."

* * *

 **Hey, this isn't going away. The first half of the next chapter deals with Gaia and Netia, and they will appear later in the story as well. Also, I acknowledge that bullying is a real problem, and I have (kind of, but not really) been on both ends of it. A poorly chosen sentence by me haunts me to this day, as well as many other, more minor actions I have done trouble me, though I was never anywhere near violent. At the same time, energetic kids half my size seem to be my bane. Man, that didn't exactly feel good, but yeah.**


	12. Chapter 12:More Then Meets the Black Eye

**Hey, there's a first in my writing here. I'll tell you about it later.**

* * *

Storm was outside team GRDN's quarters. Lorna, who felt guilty, was beside him. Through the oak door he could sense Netia's emotions, and words could not do justice to them—though he could sense that they were like a deep sorrow, or feeling of helplessness. He had to help her.

He felt a little apprehensive, knocking on the door of someone he didn't know that well. There was a small part of him that didn't want to do it. But he had to do it, or else he couldn't help her.

He gave the door three knocks, hoping they were in the mood to answer. It was before long that Gaia answered the door, her face solemn. "What do you want?" Gaia said hostilely. "Haven't you done enough, Faunus?"

"We just want to talk to her," Lorna said. "Apologize, and comfort her."

Gaia sighed, some of her anger slipping away. She turned behind her, and spoke to Netia. "I'll be right back, Neti'." She took a couple of steps forward, and closed the door behind her. "There are some things you need to know about Netia before you talk to her."

"Go ahead. Tell us," Storm said.

"First of all, only I call her Neti'," Gaia explained. "Second, she's been like this since I've met her at Sanctum. She takes confidence in the fact that she's the strongest, and everyone else is beneath her, except me. You've seen what happens if that fact is challenged.

"I don't know why she has these issues, but I've tried to help her as best I can. Her parents help too, but they can't do much. I'm who she looks to for support.

"And… we're a couple." A small flair went up in Storm's head. He had certain personal convictions against that sort of thing. But he'd still help, because they were just as much people as he was, and Netia needed help.

"Is that it?" Storm asked.

"No, one more thing," Gaia said. "She hasn't spoken a word since the fight. It's only been this bad a couple of times, and then I had to call her parents. But her parents aren't available right now, so I need all the help I can get to get her out of this state."

"Alright," Lorna said. "I think we're ready." Storm was certainly ready, so he nodded in agreement.

Gaia nodded, and opened the door. "Neti'," Gaia said softly, "There're some people here to see you." Inside Netia was sitting on a bed with her back against the wall, and her legs on the bed as well. As she saw Lorna and him, she pulled her legs closer to her defensively.

"They're here to help," Gaia assured. That did not stop Netia from being so defensive, or from watching the two of them closely. But she didn't make any indication that she wanted them to leave, so they sat down on another bed opposite her.

Lorna was the first to speak. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. I know my semblance can be a little scary, but I never thought it would do this to you or anyone else." Netia shoot her an accusing glare with her tear filled eyes, but said nothing. "What I want to say is I'm sorry. I'm sorry for scaring you like that, and I hope that you get better." Netia's aura said that Lorna's words had helped, but not much.

Now it was Storm's turn. "Netia, you are strong." She perked up only slightly. "You are one of the best fighters I've met, and I don't want to fight you. But you shouldn't get your confidence from that. You've near terrorized most of the students of Haven, but you shouldn't gain confidence from that either.

"You should be confident because you're a person. You're loved. You have people looking out for you. You have two parents, someone who cares about you, and if you want, friends. But you keep pushing people away, and demeaning them for your own sake. Putting other people down so that you can feel better about yourself isn't the way."

Netia was still silent, but receptive. He believed that he was getting to her, but if he said the wrong thing, it would make her condition worse. So, with caution, he proceeded to say, "You were born, and that gives you more worth than all the gold in the world. You are precious to people. You have been given people who love you and want you to feel better about yourself. You should take confidence from yourself; not you skills, but you."

Netia's aura was brighter than before, which meant she felt better. But it was still dark, and that meant her feelings were still down. But it was all he could do. "Anyway, I hope you feel better soon," Storm said.

After a minute or two in silence Storm and Lorna decided it was time for them to leave. They had both said what they wanted to say, and Netia wasn't talking. They stood up, and saw themselves out.

Just before they left, though, they heard a strained voice behind them. "Thank you." Storm turned around and saw that Netia had said that. So they had gotten through to her.

"You're welcome," Storm said with a smile. And both he and Lorna left knowing that perhaps they had done some good for Netia.

* * *

Faye was at Beacon's Forge. This was where students and occasionally Hunters built and repaired their weapons. It was loud in the Forge, and sparks flew from nearby welding. Faye was in front of a work station, considering what she would make.

There were more students around than she imagined there normally were, as not only were there more students at Beacon, but with the tournament, a lot of them needed to repair their weapons.

Nearby, Cirocco was repairing his gauntlets. She tried to avoid talking to him, as his company tended to be insufferable. Unfortunately, as he was finishing up his repairs, he turned to Faye. "You know, the damage came from the match with SNOW. Nolen's swords have always wreaked havoc with my gauntlets."

"Indeed," she replied. Even if she did not want to talk with him, she would be polite.

Cirocco didn't say anything more.

Eventually, after a long time pondering what she would do, a hand came on her shoulder. She was startled and turned around. It was Storm. She laughed lightly at her former fear, and said, "Please do not do that again."

"Okay, I was just going to work on a new weapon design idea when I saw you," he replied. "Out of curiosity, what are you doing in the forge?"

She was somewhat glad he asked. "I am trying to make a new weapon for myself," she explained. "Since my swords are unusable when they are wings, I have been trying to make something new."

"You can shoot feathers at them though. Isn't that pretty good?"

Faye sighed. "It is, but every time I need to use magnetism to bring them back, and every time my semblance shifts, it drains my aura. I want to have a long range weapon that I can use in flight."

Storm took a seat beside her, and thought. "A rifle or a pistol would do."

"Yes, though there is something to consider." Storm cocked an eyebrow. "At Asylum—the school where I was trained before Haven—we were taught to fight like the animals we resembled. It led to very interesting styles among my classmates. Lorna is tricky, but when she needs to fight direction she uses claws."

"Which she didn't use against team GRDN."

Faye inhaled sharply at the mention of the fight. She remembered what a mess Netia was at the end of that fight, and asked, "Is Netia well?"

"No, but she's doing a little better now."

Faye was unsure of her feelings for GRDN now. On one hand they had caused strife among most of her fellow classmates, and on the other was Netia's display of emotion. She wasn't sure what to make of them anymore. Perhaps she could find friends among them, but that would be unlikely.

But remembering her original subject she asked, "Do you mind if I continue?"

"Go ahead," Storm replied.

She was glad to resume their previous conversation, so did. "Other classmates had other weapons and styles. More often than not they would be unique, even if they were like the same animal."

"Anybody else with wings?"

She grimaced. "Yes, but I would like not to discuss him."

"Okay."

She continued. "So what would suit my likeness of a gyrfalcon?"

Storm paused. "Talons?" Her heart flared at that mention, and she was unpleasantly once again reminded of him. Storm must have sensed this, and said, "Okay, let's forget that. What else?"

"It would also be useful if I could use them for hit-and-run maneuvers as blades, as I am not a very good shot," she added.

"Hm. Fully automatic would help with that, unless you were firing into a crowd that included hostiles and friendlies," Storm said thoughtfully. "So a gun that can switch from fully automatic to semi on command. But can also turn into a melee weapon for hit-and-run attacks, so has to be compact and/or durable so that it doesn't break apart. Hm…"

She had an idea. "What about a couple of Dust blasters that can deploy blades on command?"

"Yes, possibly with revolver style chambers for different ammo types," Storm said excitedly. "Switch-guns!"

"Is that the term for that sort of weapon?" Faye asked.

"It's my term for them at least." He stood up. "I wish you luck trying to build it."

As he was about to leave, she said, "Wait, Storm." He stopped. "Could you help me build them?"

"I could, but only with advice. Your weapons should be built by you, so you can understand them better. Only then can you use them well."

She eyed him, annoyed. "That sounds like an excuse."

"Yeah, but that was what my mentor always said," he replied. "And I have come to see the wisdom in his words since then."

"Well, I would like whatever help you can give." Storm sat back down, and they began work on her new weapons.

* * *

 **The very first non-boy/girl in my writings has been confirmed. Yeah, that's new.**


	13. Chapter 13: Vale Tea Party

**Hey, time for some exposition that will probably be trampled on by the show. Yeah!**

* * *

Crystal raised her cup to her lips, and sipped more green tea. The mild taste allowed her to concentrate more on conversation than the tea itself. As she lowered her cup, she took in the café again.

The café balcony was as grand a place as could be found in this section of Vale. Leafy vines stretched down, wrapping around the balcony railing. The tables and chairs were carved in a grandiose fashion, and even the cups were sculpted in a fine way. It was nothing like her father's house, but it would do.

There were people of all sorts there. There were students, workers, and even a few people of some class, including herself. Around another table were a girl she recognized as Weiss Schnee, and the black haired girl she saw Schnee arguing with when she first came to Beacon. She had to bite back her disdain at the sight of a Schnee.

She turned back to her present company, someone far better than a Shnee. Nixie Frayne was a pale girl, with pale blue eyes, and silvery blue hair. She wore a silver tiara with pale blue gemstones, a royal blue coat, leggings, and boots. At her belt was the Frost Blade in a simple sheath. Nixie was the only girl she had met since coming to Vale who she remotely considered an equal.

Crystal arm had healed, and she had no need for the cast Storm had given her. She was glad about that, though she was worried that her aura going out during the match with Snow. She had worried that perhaps the healing process had been disrupted somehow, but she was fine now.

As Nixie finished sipping her tea, Crystal couldn't help but marvel at her again. "I didn't think any of the nobles of Mantle were still alive, but here you are, a woman of the House of Frayne," she said, containing her excitement.

"As I said, my father escaped here, and lived here until he was killed by Atlas assassins," Nixie replied, tired of explaining.

"So you know nothing of the importance of the Frost Blade?"

"Only that I point and it makes ice," Nixie replied.

Crystal sighed at Nixie's ignorance. So she explained. "You know of the Crystal Blades? Well those, the Frost Blade, and two other weapons were given to the kings of Remnant."

"Given by whom?"

While the answer was very simple, it was something she would rather not say in public. "I will answer when we are in a more private setting," Crystal said. "But every king of Remnant has had one of these weapons, until very recently when the governments of the world changed into their current forms, and kings were a thing of the past. Now only the families who used to be royal bare these weapons, except for the Frost Blade.

"As you know, the Red Snow Revolution was more violent than the other reforms. All of the noble houses were exterminated except for your father for a while," she glanced back and Weiss Schnee, "and the traitorous Schnees."

"So," Nixie said, grasping the Frost Blade's hilt, "I could be queen."

"While the Fraynes were not the ones to normally bare that responsibility, you are the closest to the monarch as could be," Crystal replied.

"So…" Nixie said, grinning. "I could start a revolution."

Crystal was surprised. "I suppose you could."

"Then I shall when my training here is complete. It will be the perfect revenge against the government that took my parents."

Crystal was shocked. "You would overthrow an entire government just to satisfy your want for revenge?"

"Appropriate, no?"

As Nixie sipped her tea again, Crystal's jaw nearly dropped. "You are, without a doubt, the most psychotic person I have ever met."

"You haven't been in Vale long, have you?"

Before Crystal could reply, the sound of Cirocco's semblance going off behind her caused her to turn around. Cirocco had just jumped onto the balcony, and was now casually walking to her. If anyone had the audacity to do that, it was Cirocco.

"Hey, Crystal, how's it going?" Cirocco said as he came over. He took a vacant chair from another table, and pulled it over to Crystal and Nixie's. He sat down with his chest against the back of the chair.

"Excuse me, Cirocco, but I'm in a conversation," Crystal said, annoyed.

"Then let me be in it," Cirocco said. He turned to Nixie, and extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Cirocco, nice to meet you."

"I'm Nixie, and it's nice to meet you too," Nixie replied, accepting the handshake.

As the conversation went on, Crystal felt left out. Eventually it got onto the topic of Nixie's tiara, as Cirocco had never seen anyone wear one ever. "It was my grandmother's, as my sword was my father's," Nixie explained.

"Isn't that interesting," Crystal replied. Nixie turned to her. "You're wearing an heirloom of Mantle in public."

"No, the one on my mother's side," Nixie replied. Crystal couldn't think of anything to say after that.

Crystal was so frustrated. It was an indignity for her. If she had her way, Cirocco would leave, but since Nixie was fine with him, she would tolerate him for now.

Finally, Crystal was allowed back into the conversation, though the subject had gotten very serious. "What do you think of the last match, Crystal? Cirocco?" Nixie asked.  
Cirocco spoke first. Nothing could stop him from sharing his opinion anyway. "I think Xiao Long is crazy—but then again who isn't crazy—but more importantly, she's violently crazy, and should be arrested or at least expelled."

"I'm not so sure," Crystal said. "First of all, Storm told me that he sensed something odd—like Yang had seen something other than what happened." She wasn't going to mention the possibility of illusion, as Headmaster Forester had told her to keep Cinder and her allies a secret.

"So she's a delusional kind of crazy," Cirocco said.

"That's not what I meant!" Crystal countered.

"Well, as someone who has actually had a conversation with the woman," Nixie chimed in, "I think that it is in her character to do it."

"See, Nixie agrees," Cirocco said. "She's nuts."

Crystal sighed with frustration. She had to get rid of him. But how?

She looked over to the table where Weiss Schnee sat, and got an idea. "Hey, Cirocco," she said. "See that girl, Weiss Schnee."

"Yeah, I've met her before," Cirocco said.

"You have?"

"Yeah. She was kinda nice, even though she beat me, but I hate her father."

"Well you should go talk with her then," Crystal said. "You both are from Atlas, and you're both going to schools other than Atlas Academy. It should be an illuminating experience."

"Okay." Cirocco got up, and walked to Schnee's table.

Crystal snickered. When Nixie gave her a questioning look, Crystal replied, "Then man who talks too much meets a dirty traitor. This will be good."

Cirocco got over there, and Crystal used her semblance—and her ability to read lips, which she had learned for this sort of thing—to see what they were saying.

Cirocco said, "Hello, I'm Cirocco. My friend thinks you're a dirty traitor and that I talk too much." How did he hear that?

Weiss gave a dirty look in the direction of where Cirocco had come from, and replied, "I think I remember you. Didn't I spar with you back in Atlas?"

"Yep, and I'm still getting over the loss."

Weiss laughed, but Cirocco remained serious. Weiss invited him to sit down, and he accepted. Well that was one problem solved.

* * *

 **No, I'm not sure how big Nixie's contributions to future storylines will be... Yeah!**


	14. Chapter 14: Cooking with Fire

**So, does anybody wonder who Rusti's date to the dance was? I'm taking your silence as a yes, and giving you this chapter.**

* * *

Rusti walked the hallways of Beacon. Few other students were there, and most he didn't really take note of. He was wandering; he had nothing to do, and nowhere to go really. As he was walking, and a familiar scent came from behind—like flowers.

Hands came over his eyes, and he stopped. "Guess who?"

Rusti grinned. "Fuchsia… what was your last name?"

Fuchsia giggled, and Rusti turned around. There was the pink haired Fuchsia. They'd gone to the dance together, and since then, Fuchsia had been following him a lot. He contemplated whether or not she was a stalker, but he doubted it.

"Hey, Rusti," Fuchsia said in her bubbly voice.

"Hey, Fuchsia," Rusti replied. "How's it going?"

"Fine. I'm little down about Yang getting disqualified, but other than that's it's been a good day." Rusti gave a short laugh and began walking again. Fuchsia followed. "What does that mean?"

"I just think it's surprising she didn't crack earlier." Fuchsia gave him a look. "What?"

"It's not funny. Breaking someone's leg is serious."

"Oh please, did you hear it? It was probably a metal leg," he kidded.

"I didn't hear anything."

"Can you take a joke?"

"Not about breaking people's legs." They were silent for a while.

Eventually, someone called out towards them. "Fuchsia!" Rusti turned with Fuchsia, and a short, blonde girl in Beacon uniform was running towards them. As she got closer, she said, "Hey, Fuchsia." She looked at Rusti. "Who's the bonfire?"

That was a new one.

Now that she was standing in front of him, Rusti realized how short she really was. The girl was a little less than a foot shorter than him, but was at least as old as he was. He found it a little odd that this girl was a Huntress.

"I'm Rusti Tolkien, and you are?" he said.

"Saffron Florian," the short girl said. "And Fuchsia's team leader."

"Really?" He almost wanted to laugh. To think she was in command of a team was a little unbelievable.

"You better believe it," Saffron replied. "I'm leader of team SFRN." It was just her first name repeated, which was the least creative team name he'd heard in a long time.

"Well, where's the rest of your team?"

"Right here," a guy's voice said behind him. He turned around, and when he saw a metal wolf's head staring back at him, he jumped. After he realized it was a helmet, he took a better look at the wearer. He was a man in red, with gray furs, and armor. He had a sword on his back under a fur cape, and his wolf helmet looked as intimidating as anything. He couldn't see the upper half of his face because of the helmet, so he had little idea of what he looked like. "Ha," the guy laughed. "This is the guy you've been hanging out with, Fuchsia?"

Blushing, Fuchsia nodded.

"Well, I wouldn't say he's an improvement." He turned his head, looking at Rusti like he was a statue he was considering buying. "I say I could beat him."

"Did you beat her last boyfriend?" Rusti asked, curious. He wasn't afraid, as far as anyone was concerned, but he was nervous. This guy looked crazy, though the lower half of his face seemed slightly familiar.

The guy laughed. "I was her last boyfriend, Rusti."

Wait a second. "How do you know my name?"

"Ah, so the helmet makes me unrecognizable. Good to know." He raised the snout of his wolf head helmet like a knight would raise his visor. He looked vaguely familiar, with a couple similarities to Storm, Rayne, and Skye, but he looked very much like a different person.

"Should I know you?" Rusti asked.

He frowned. "I'm Redell—Storm and Rayne's cousin."

"Oh."

"I watched the last match with you."

"Huh. I don't remember you."

"Well isn't that flattering," he said, obviously sarcastic. Redell turned to Fuchsia. "Real improvement."

"So, what are you doing in your battle armor?" Fuchsia asked. So this wasn't what he wore normally.

"I was just waiting for Nixie. We were supposed to have a sparring match today."

"You wanna get beaten up again?" Saffron said.

"Hey, you can't beat her either," Redell said defensively.

"I can't beat her, you can't beat her, us and Fuchsia combined can't beat her. I wouldn't be surprised if she could take on the Atlesian military!" She was that powerful? "It's like the universe custom made a juggernaut!"

"Maybe you're just not that great," Rusti offered.

Saffron gave him a look. "Big talk from you, 'got taken out in the first round man'."

"Well, what about you? I didn't see you in the tournament."

Redell smiled, but it seemed insincere. "Our fearless leader Saffron said that we didn't need accolades to prove we're the best, and we didn't even enter the qualifier."

"Hey," Saffron snapped. "'He who seeks glory will find himself shamed'."

"And where is that from?" Redell asked.

As the two bickered, Rusti decided to take his leave. Fuchsia followed.

"So, where do you want to go?" Rusti asked.

"I was thinking the garden, or maybe a café," Fuchsia replied.

"Let's go with a café—I have certain… unresolved things with gardens." He was glad when Fuchsia laughed at his small joke.

They were on their way to leave Beacon to go down to the city, when a woman's voice called out for him. It sounded like Netia, only there wasn't malice in the voice. He turned around to see Netia running after him down the courtyard. He panicked.

"Rusti," Netia said. He almost ran, but he wasn't going to embarrass himself in front of a woman he was going on a date with. "Rusti." She stopped in front of him. She didn't seem to threaten him, nor was the taller, muscular Gaia around to intimidate him. "I just wanted to say…" She inhaled deeply. She was out of breath! "I'm sorry for tormenting you all those times. I'm sorry for everything. Can you forgive me for all that?"

He wasn't sure how to reply. He was used to girls going out with him and/or beating him up. He'd never met one who apologized for beating him up. They always said he deserved it. This was a good change. "Apology accepted," he said, happy with the change.

"Thank you." Netia breathed in again. "Now do you know where I can find Cirocco?"

"I don't know." He was sure that he wasn't at Beacon, but beyond that was anybody's guess.

"Well, I've got to find him. I'll see you another time then." And then Netia ran off.

Fuchsia looked to Rusti, curious. "What exactly did she do to you?" she asked.

Rusti hesitated. "I'll tell you after the tournament's over."

She frowned. "But you'll be leaving after the tournament."

"Exactly." And he kept walking.

* * *

 **Hey, I googled the phrase Saffron said (he who seeks glory will find himself shamed) and it seems as though nobody has been quoted saying that. Hooray, something people an quote me or my characters for! And nobody will.**


	15. Chapter 15: Not so Black and White

**You think I forgot about Rayne and Ember? Nope, I was just waiting for something. Here you go!**

* * *

Storm and Faye marched into the courtyard. It was night, almost all the other students were at the colosseum, and now was the time. Now was the time to confront Rayne.  
He had put it off for too long. He had tried to take his mind off it over and over again, but he had to know. He had to know why. Was Rayne a terrorist?

Was Ember a terrorist? Was she using Rayne by lying to him, all the while promoting her own agenda? He had to know!

He and Faye were armed to the teeth. After a brief test, Faye decided that her new switch-guns—which she had decided to call Hail Blasters—were good enough, and so brought them. If this ended in a fight, for whatever reason, he wanted to be prepared.

He turned to Storm. "Thanks again for coming with me, Faye."

"It was no problem. Besides, I sympathize with your plight with Rayne, and I owe you something for all your help," she replied. He wondered if she had experience with this sort of thing. Of course, if she did, he wouldn't ask her, mostly because of her recent unwillingness to talk about certain things.

They had some trouble trying to find Rayne, but eventually they found both he and Ember. They were in the courtyard talking, their breath visible as clouds of white steam from the cold night air. Now was his chance.

He was halfway to them, when he was hit with an explosion of emotions. The emotions were bright with shock. They were not his, but those of many others. He fell to the ground, holding his head in his hands.

The emotions pained him. They were powerful, more powerful than when Xiao Long broke Mercury's leg. It was hard not to feel them himself.

Just when he tried stand up again, he was hit with another volley of emotions. They were different this time—stronger. They were red with outrage and anger. Finally, he decided to cut himself off from it. He shut down his ability to sense others' emotions, and stood back up.

He looked at Ember differently now. It may have been that the bombardment of emotions was affecting his judgement, or maybe it made him see more clearly. No longer was she a suspect in his mind; now she was the culprit.

"You… terrorist!" Storm shouted, and drew Excelsior. "You are going to pay for what you and your friends have done, Ember!"

Rayne drew Bolt Breaker, and extended it to staff form. It pulsed with electricity as Rayne said cautiously, "Storm, what are you doing?"

"What you should have done long ago, brother," Storm replied. "I'm going to end Ember's hold on you, and bring her to justice."

"She's innocent of whatever you think she's done, Storm."

"How about the shooting?"

"We're both equally guilty for that, so if you're going to punish one of us, punish both."

He was betrayed! Rayne had sided with Ember, and so betrayed Storm. While it pained him to see Rayne like this, grief could come later. For now he had to deal with them. "I will," Storm said, fighting back tears, "and this time justice will not be fooled."

Ember cocked her head. "You won't be able to beat us, Storm. Even with Feather, you're no match for us."

This time, Faye replied. "First, my name is Faye," she said angrily. "Second, we have both grown stronger than before."

Storm chimed in now as he opened up his Scroll. "And my favorite, third," he said as he pressed the call button on the temporary locker Beacon had assigned him, "I beat you both last time."

As his locker launched, Rayne looked to the sky. He knew that the locker contained Titan, the only weapon proven to be able to beat both Rayne and Ember. Rayne transformed his weapon into a sniper rifle, and before Storm could stop him, fired. The shot went past Storm, so he looked behind him to see his locker falling to the ground and crashing over a hundred feet away.

He wouldn't be able to grab Titan now.

He turned back to Rayne, who had transformed Bolt Breaker back into a staff. "You were saying?" Ember said.

Storm growled, and charged them. Rayne swung his staff at him. A single hit would hurt Storm, as not only would the impact damage his aura, a secondary electric shock would mess him up too. He blocked the attack with his gauntlet, which was insulated against electric shocks—an old modification from his Sanctum days when he was doing everything in his power to beat Rayne in a sparring match.

When he got near enough, he tried stabbing Rayne. Rayne spun his staff around, knocking Excelsior away. But in any case, he was close, so he grabbed an armblade from its holder at his thigh, and slashed with it. Rayne's aura absorbed the hit, but it did damage to it all the same.

Then Storm got a hit to the back of the head, and Rayne pushed him back. He assumed it was Ember that hit him. He pulled back a ways—close fighting would be more difficult than he thought.

Ember turned her staff—he didn't know its name—into its whip form, and swung it at Storm. He dodged it, but then she attacked again with a sweeping attack that could knock his legs out from under him. He jumped over it just in time, and transformed Excelsior in its rifle form. He fired at her, forcing her and Rayne to duck behind a couple of the nearby pillars in the courtyard.

Rayne turned Bolt breaker into its shotgun form, and fired at Storm from behind his cover. Storm dodged and pulled out Typhoon and crouched to block subsequent attacks.

Faye ran behind another pillar, drew her Hail Blasters, and began firing at Rayne and Ember. Storm fired as well from behind his shield, but it was obvious this wouldn't end quickly. He called out to Faye, "We need to end this now."

"Do you remember Rusti?" He remembered him, but he failed to see how… Wait. His semblance was energy repulsion, and if Faye was going to emulate that against them, this fight would get real one-sided real fast. "I will attack Ember, while you attack Rayne."

"Good idea," Storm said as a fireball hit his shield. "But I'm going to take on Ember." Ember had manipulated his brother, and corrupted him. If anyone was going to beat that traitor, it would be him. Faye looked at him worriedly, but she accepted it anyway.

After a moment's preparation, he said, "Go!" and as soon as Faye went past him, he got up and charged.

Faye's mastery of energy repulsion was minor, and while Ember's fireballs were not deflected, they were stopped, allowed the two of them to pass them freely. Ember constantly tried to send the fireballs back at Faye and him, but the invisible bubble that was the range of the energy repulsion protected them. Once they were in range of Faye's swords, she attacked Rayne, and drove him away from Ember.

Ember was for Storm to deal with.

He started by kicking at Ember, which she blocked with her staff. He slashed with Excelsior, which was also blocked. He tried bashing her with Typhoon, but that didn't work either, though that did make her stumble back. He bashed again and again with it, and she continued to give ground across the grassy courtyard.

Then she struck back by releasing a burst fire from her staff. The blast disoriented him, and while his aura made sure that he didn't suffer any serious damage, the burst of light temporarily blinded him. When he regained his sight, Ember was maybe twenty feet away, and readied to fire another burst of flames.

Then she said something. "Do you know what my weapon's name is?"

"No," he replied, wary.

"Inferno. And you're about to see why."

From Ember's staff came a huge wave of fire. The wave could have engulfed an entire Beowulf head to toe by the time it got to Storm. He raised Typhoon, jumped, put his feet up against the shield, and rid the fiery explosion away from Ember.

When the fire dissipated, he saw that none of the grass had been burned or even singed. Ember must have used whatever ability she had to control fire to make sure that the grass was unharmed. Evidentially she didn't want collateral damage—at least, when it came to grass.

Storm then threw Typhoon at Ember. He knew that she would deflect the shield, but that was his plan. He transformed Excelsior into its rifle form, and took aim. Just as Typhoon reach Ember, he fired. Ember deflected the shield but not the rifle's round. The impact threw her off enough to allow him to fire at her again without her blocking it.  
The shield landed on the ground with a thud. Evidentially he had miscalculated at what angle Ember would deflect it at, and it hadn't come back to him as he planned. But it didn't matter; he didn't need it anymore.

He fired round after round until her aura went out. But before he realized it, he had fired at her without her aura up. His heart dropped as she dropped to the ground, leaning on her staff for support, and clutched her side where the round had hit her. Her glove took on a red coloring as it was drenched in blood. He threw his gun to the side, and stared at his handiwork.

He'd just shot a defenseless woman. He couldn't believe he'd done such a thing. He could have killed her if he had just aimed a little closer to her chest. He could have killed her.  
He didn't mean to. He never wanted to kill anyone! It wasn't in his nature to kill anything but Grimm. He looked at Ember no longer with contempt and hatred, but with sorrow and empathy.

He ran over to her, to see if there was anything he could do. Suddenly, she raised her head to stare at him with eyes that bore into his soul. Suddenly, the exo-skeleton under his clothes that gave him his above average strength locked up. He was scared.

"You know," Ember said as she was interrupted by a cough of blood. As the red liquid fell onto the grass, he couldn't help but feel responsible for it. Then she continued. "You know what my semblance is?"

"No," he replied, scared of what it was now.

"Energy manipulation." Oh no. "And now I'm going to send all that energy in your little gadgets buzzing out, making a big old," she coughed again, "… electric explosion."  
As his armor made strange sounds, he panicked. He couldn't do anything other than talk, as his exo-skeleton encompassed nearly his entire body. He also felt a little disappointed; he thought that his life was supposed to flash before he died—apparently that wasn't true.

"Stop!" came Rayne's voice from behind Storm. Ember froze, and the sounds from his electronics ceased. "Stop, Ember! Don't kill Storm!"

His footsteps were fast like he was running as he went over to Ember. He looked disheveled from battle, and his black fedora had apparently fallen off his head or something. He looked at Ember with an expression of dread. He looked to Storm. "How could you do this, Storm?"

Storm, as he couldn't do much else, replied, "I didn't mean to do it, Rayne. I didn't!"

"I don't believe that." He helped Ember up, and she made a horrible groan. "Are you alright, Ember?"

"Do I look alright…?" And she nearly fell back down again, and dropped her staff. She looked paler than he had ever seen her, and her breathing was jagged.

She did, however, release Storm from her hold. He breathed a little easier now that he was free. But his main concern was Ember.

"We need to get you to a hospital." Storm helped carry Ember to the airfield.

They passed Faye, and she followed. Faye had a worried expression on her face. Storm asked her, "What is it, Faye?"

"I… Look." She pointed to the sky, and the _Chrome Axe_ followed by almost the entire Atlesian task force was falling out of the sky. In they place flew Nevermores, circling the sky, looking for a target to grab. If he didn't already feel dread, he did now.

As they got to the airfield, there were no transports to fly out of there. Now how were they going to get Ember to the hospital?

"I might be able to fly her down there," Faye said. "But I will need your jets, Storm, for extra thrust; these wings were made for one."

Storm took off his greaves, and was about to hand them to Faye when she said "Give them to Ember." He followed her without question, and attached the greaves to Ember's lower legs. "Good. Now I think I have a chance," she said, and stepped behind Ember. "Very quickly, Storm, how do activate your jets?"

"With my aura," he explained. The same trigger was built into many a Hunter's weapon.

Faye nodded. "Ember, do you think you can trigger them?"

"I think so," Ember said weakly. She turned to Storm. "Don't think I won't remember this, Stormy." In normal circumstances, he would have been launched into a fit about that nickname, but right now, it seemed too trivial to get worked up about. "Let's… go, Faye." Faye picked Ember up by the armpits, and took off.

"Storm," Rayne said, sounding drained, "if she doesn't make it, I'll kill you."

"Noted."

But they had other concerns at the moment. Three dropships landed in the airfield. As they set down, their sides opened and White Fang soldiers filed out of two of them. The last one had a Grimm. Wasn't this turning out to be a fun night?

* * *

 **And now the battle has begun! I promise that the majority of characters in Part 2 thus far will be in the battle, as well as some new ones. But until then, have fun forgetting this.**


	16. Chapter 16: The Battle of Vale

**In case you're wondering why my teams didn't run from the fight while you're reading the next few chapters, here's why: they know that there's a time for thinking and a time for fighting, and when the Grimm attack, you have to do both.**

* * *

Crystal awoke, her head throbbing horribly. Emotions swirled around her like a mist, blocking out all other senses. Her limited empathic ability was overloaded by strong emotions from a large amount of people. She cut herself off from the ability just to remain conscious.

Now without the fog of emotions, she looked around. She was in the café, which didn't make sense, since she had been on the balcony before losing consciousness. She also saw Nixie summoning ice with the Frost Blade. Then she saw what she was fighting: Grimm.

Hordes of Grimm were outside the café, in the streets, in buildings, everywhere. Citizens ran in fear of the creatures. Even Crystal feared them slightly. While most of them were young, many showed signs of aging that were past most Grimm she had seen, which made them even wiser and bigger threats. She had never seen so many Grimm with so many humans.

She stood up, ignoring the throbbing in her head, and reached for the Crystal Blades. When her hands were over the sheaths on her back, she only felt one hilt. She turned to Nixie. "Where's the other Crystal Blade?" she demanded.

"It's over there," Nixie replied as she pointed to under a table.

As she dashed to it, she asked, "Why is it on the ground?"

"I tried using it."

She was furious at her ignorance. "Each of the blades only responds to noble blood of the nation they were entrusted to! You cannot use them any more than I can use the Frost Blade!"

"Sorry, just trying to be helpful."

"You already have one legendary weapon." Crystal shattered her other blade, drew the small, mystic particles that made up the Crystal Blades out of the air and up off the floor, and formed around the black stone-like handles set end to end into a single weapon—a massive claymore. She then charged at a Beowulf and chopped its head off with one swing. "Use it!"

Nixie and Crystal held the café; making sure none of the Grimm could get anywhere near the people inside. Schnee and her black-haired friend had left long before she'd passed out. Eventually, the Grimm got wise enough to leave the café alone, and fight another battle.

Then Nixie got an idea. "Crystal, those Nevermores need their wings clipped. Help me up to the roof."

Without asking questions, she put her claymore down and put her hands together. Nixie put her feet on her hands, and Crystal threw her up to the roof.

On the roof of the café, Nixie sheathed the Frost Blade, and began to move her hands a strange way. The winds picked up, and the Nevermores' flight became rough, and one by one they lost control. As the Nevermores crashed on to the tops of buildings, in the streets, and some even splashed into the sea, Crystal stared at Nixie. Was that her semblance, because it sure wasn't a power of the Frost Blade? Over the winds, Crystal thought she heard, "I told you I didn't need a weapon."

* * *

Faye flew between buildings, trying to evade Nevermores and bullets flying to shoot them down. The wind grew rough, but she held her course. The jets on her back managed to hold her through the fierce weather, and began her descent to the ground before she was forced.

It had taken her longer than she thought to get Ember to a hospital. Vale General was full to the breaking point, and she had to go to three different hospitals after that until she found one with an empty bed. Ember was pretty weak then. She hoped that Ember would survive.

As she came in for a landing, Grimm were everywhere where she had to land. She pulled out her Hail Blasters, and began clearing the site. While her blasters only had one type of Dust in them, the lightning Dust in them was more than enough to kill all the Grimm there. She landed a little fast, and had to skid to a stop in order to keep her from falling over.

Around her, Grimm had overrun the city. She had seen it from the air, and it didn't look any better from the ground. She fired at any Grimm that came within range.  
Whenever a Grimm was hit with one of her Hail Blasters, the sight was slightly scary. First they would spasm, and then they fall to the ground and continue to spasm until they died. While the sight was scary the first time, and the second time, by the third she had learned to ignore it. She had to shut down any empathy she had for the Grimm, which was miniscule already.

She actually found herself counting how many Grimm she had killed. She did not know why, but she did. By the time she was up to thirty four, she realized that, after the battle, she could compare her count to others'. She had read about it in books, and it seemed a good way to prove herself to other students and Hunters. So she kept at it, making sure to count every kill she had gotten.

Then she heard a woman scream, and she ran to the source of it. She had to fight through Grimm, but she had to save whoever it was. At some point, she deployed the blades of her Hail Blasters, and stabbed them into the skull of a Grimm. When she got to the woman, Rusti was with her, and there were three Grimm dead at their feet.

The woman had pink hair that reached her shoulders, and may have been older than Rusti—she wasn't sure. She had a Beacon school uniform on, and was obviously not ready for combat. "Faye," Rusti said, shaking his right hand like it was sore, "it's good to see another familiar face."

"It is good to see you as well," Faye replied. She turned to the girl. "What is your name?"

"I'm Fuchsia," she said. She went over to a trash can, and picked up the lid. When she didn't take anything out of the can, she wondered if she was going to use the lid as a shield. "Hey, why don't you give Rusti one of your guns?"

She was a bit put one the spot by this. While she did not want to give up one of her Hail Blasters—Rusti could be a bit irresponsible about these kinds of things—, she did not want to appear rude either. Fortunately, Rusti decided for her. "Nah, I think I can make do with a sledgehammer."

He went over to a hardware store, and came back with a big sledgehammer. "We still need to get to Beacon," Fuchsia said. "I don't think we can fight a whole Grimm invasion with a sledgehammer and a lid off a garbage can."

"Then let's go." And they began the fight to Beacon.

Faye holstered her blasters, and drew her swords. While the Dust crystals in her blasters would regenerate—Storm had figured something out—they still needed power to do it. Besides, she needed to fight her best, and she could only do that with her swords.

She led the group, slashing through Grimm. Whenever a Grimm was about to attack her, and she could not move to defend herself in time, Fuchsia would intercept it, and block the attack with her makeshift shield. Meanwhile, Rusti covered their flank.

They fought well, and went right through the hordes of Grimm.

An explosion came from a building, and Faye was knocked back. Rusti helped her up, but the building began to fall over. "Run!" Faye shouted, but Rusti and Fuchsia didn't need anyone to tell them that.

They all ran as fast as they could to safety. Soon enough, Fuchsia got out from under where the building was falling, and Faye used her jets to boost her way there as well. Rusti wasn't as fast as they were, and lagged behind. "Come on, Rusti!" Fuchsia shouted.

Rusti tried to go faster. But then, a chunk of concrete fell towards him, and Fuchsia dashed over to him. She jumped and kicked the piece of rubble away from Rusti. Rusti didn't seem to notice, and kept running. Fuchsia stayed with him, trying to get him to go faster.

Faye watched the two try to run out from the rubble. She did not know what to do, but wait for them to get to her. She hoped that they would get out in time. But then the rest of the building fell down.

As it crashed down, she shouted, "RUSTI!" But her voice was drowned out from the deafening noise, and she ran from the site to get away from the dust cloud the rubble raised. She just watched as the building fell.

She fell to her knees. She did not know if either of them could have survived that. While she barely knew Fuchsia or Rusti, she had talked with them, she had fought with them, and now they could be dead. She tried closing her emotions off, as that would only attract more Grimm if they sensed her feelings, but she failed. While she did not weep, she felt numb all over in shock.

Around her, other students and Hunters fought Grimm. Sometimes the Grimm would die, other times a Hunter or a student would be killed. Every death was terrible; it meant that a feeling, breathing human being, with memories of the past and dreams for the future, was ended. It was terrible.

A man fighting with a sword in ragged clothing ran past. She wondered who that was. He slightly reminded her of Qrow, the Huntsman they shadowed during their first mission. But that couldn't have been him.

Or could it?

She would have to figure it out another time, as at that moment, she needed to see if there was any way she could help Rusti and Fuchsia.

* * *

 **What'll happen next? Wait, I should know this, and you should too. Read on!**


	17. Chapter 17: The Defense of Beacon

Azura was in the room assigned to her team, listening to her dad's tapes. Before she left for Haven, he had given her a tape player with a series of cassettes detailing his time at Haven. He was just detailing a girl that Azura thought her mother might like to know about when she heard something. She took off her headphones and heard a blaring siren.  
The siren was loud, it was long, and so hard to ignore. She had no idea what it meant though. She put her headphones back on, and kept listening.

It was long after that when a familiar chill went up her spine. She looked to the window, and saw the armored mug of a Grimm. She paused the cassette, put her headphones down, got up off her bed, and drew Standoff. She then opened the window, and shot the Grimm in the face.

"Got any friends?" she asked. As she looked out the window, she saw a pair of easy targets. Two rounds later, she said, "What about family?" She fired a couple more rounds, and closed the window. As if Grimm scared her anymore.

Grimm weren't usually at Beacon though. Something had gone wrong—unsurprisingly. Maybe that was what the siren was about? In any case, she had to help the defense of Beacon.

She put the tape player and headphones at her belt, and left the room. She ran down the hallways, her emotions passive as to avoid attracting Grimm. She went to the locker room, where there were bound to be students readying for battle.

There were about a dozen students there. She reasoned that they were the few who chose not to go to the colosseum. Among them she recognized few, but there was an odd pair there. A woman with fine clothing and a brown coat with golden designs on it, and a short guy with work clothes. The shorter one Azura found more interesting; he had baggy overalls, big welding gloves, bulky boots that may have been too big for him, goggles over his forehead, and a denim jacket. All of them were going through their lockers, getting their weapons.

The short guy in work clothes dragged a ridiculous piece of machinery out of his locker, and looked frustrated at the machine. "Look at this, Isabella," he said angrily. "Someone sabotaged by plasma cannon!"

"That's not all," Gaia said, walking up to the two. "Netia's weapon has been sabotaged too!"

"Sabotage," Azura said, "the most effective way to win. If only Grimm could be sabotaged."

"Who are you?" the woman in the golden coat said, pointing her gilded rifle.

"She's Azura Eastwood," Gaia said. "Best shot from Haven. The only person I have never seen miss." Azura grinned at the praise—she really never missed.

"Good," the woman she didn't know said, lowering her rifle. "We'll need every shot we can get if we're going to win this fight." She put her left hand forward. "Isabella Castile." Azura shook hands. "My shorter teammate is Russel."

"Hey!" Russel said. "This is a serious situation! Without heavy weapons, we have no chance of survival here." He sat down on the ground in a fit. "It'll take me a week to fix this thing, and that's only if I don't take breaks!"

"I can fix it," said a man older than any student as he walked into the locker room. He was pale, but had hair as black as a starless night, and wore black clothes. Azura raised Standoff, and aimed to kill. For some reason, she wanted to kill this man more than any other Grimm or person she had ever encountered.

"Lower you gun!" Isabella said to Azura. "He's obviously a Huntsman." She reluctantly lowered her pistol. Isabella turned to the man. "I haven't seen or heard of you, I don't think. What is your name?"

"My name is Jet, and I am no Huntsman," he said. "I do not entirely fit into your classifications at all. I am… someone else." He stared right into Azura eyes with his own dark eyes, and she met his gaze right back. "We will fight another time I think, when the moon is broken, and your destiny is at hand."

She staggered back. Her destiny! This man… She would remember his face.

Before Isabella could raise her rifle, Jet said, "Do not worry. This night I am your ally. I cannot promise for the next night though." He walked over, and gestured at the broken weapons. "I can fix one of your weapons, but only one. I do not have the energy for two."

"How can you…" Gaia began to ask.

"Fix mine!" Netia said.

"No!" Russel said. "If any weapon is going to be fixed, it's mine!"

Neita sneered at him. "Why?"

"This weapon is the most powerful weapon not mounted on a vehicle," Russel rapidly explained. "This can take out your aura, kill you, and kill the person behind you. This thing can go through sixty Grimm if they're standing all in a row. It can blast through tank armor, and even take down an Atlesian airship with ease!"

Everyone was silent, except, Azura. "Why didn't you win against GRDN?"

"I missed."

"Don't miss again," Jet said, and put his hand over the weapon. There was a glow coming from his hand, and it seemed to make the pieces of Russel's weapon move on their own. They were put pack into some semblance of rightness, and then the weapon was ready to fire.

"Thank you, Jet," Russel said smiling. He began to pick up the weapon, but instead he dragged it along the floor on wheels at the back end. How heavy was that thing? Azura followed him and Isabella outside.

Grimm swarmed the courtyard. While the few students still at Beacon fought well, there were just too many. And it didn't help that a bunch of guys in strange outfits were walking around, not shooting them. They almost looked like Grimm themselves. The sight was enough to make Azura check her ammo, and reload.

"Hey, Azura," Russel said. Then he gestured to a group of Grimm. "Watch this." He charged up his weapon, and after a minute, fired it on a cluster of Grimm. The blast from it was only visible for a split second, and the noise was incredibly weird and loud. The weapon cut through Grimm like they were nothing.

Azura stared at Russel. "How…?" she said, not sure what words to follow it up with.

"It's simple… kinda," Russel explained. "Air goes in the back," he gestured to a series of open pipes at the back, "high energy plasma goes out the front. Your basic plasma cannon." Azura still wasn't sure how that worked. Russel could see her confusion. "Don't worry; I don't completely understand it myself."

* * *

Rusti awoke, but it made no difference whether or not he had his eyes open. There was something heavy on top of him that wasn't rubble from the collapsed building—it felt hard and… odd. His right side felt warm, and wet… like blood, but not his own. He stopped his breathing for a moment, and he still heard someone breathing. "Fuchsia?" he said.

"Here," Fuchsia groaned. She didn't sound too good.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No. But you are."

He tried shifting positions to something more comfortable, but it was impossible in those conditions without making Fuchsia hiss with pain. "Why did you do that?" he asked. "You must love me like crazy."

Fuchsia laughed a pathetic gasp, and said, "I guess my heart is too big for my own good. It's my semblance; I can feel the pain of others. I can even feel people die."

"But not Grimm?"

"No. I only feel the pain of things and people with souls." That was a bit of a relief. "It's been a darn inconvenience for years."

"Now I know why you didn't go into the tournament."

"Yep."

There was a crumbling sound, from the rubble around them. There was a slight pressure increasing on his left arm. Was someone trying to dig them out, or was their small refuge going to collapse altogether? He hoped it wasn't Grimm; that was the last thing they needed.

"Rusti, if we make it out of this," Fuchsia said, even more strained than before, "I'd like you to know that I've only been dating you to annoy Saffron. She hates it when I date guys who are one year behind us."

He grinned. "I understand. Thanks for including me in it, though."

"Yeah. But I will say, you have a nice smile."

"Thanks." If they made it out of there alive, he was probably going to dump her.

* * *

Storm and Rayne fought Grimm from every angle. Storm fired Typhoon and it cut through everything that he pointed at. Rayne watched his back, and he could hear electric shocks and bullets coming from Bolt Breaker. All around them were the new Atlesian Knight robots, and they did pretty well, all things considered. But they couldn't hold it for long.

In this distance, transports were leaving the colosseum. He hoped some of them would have reinforcements, because if not, they'd be dead before the night was over.

"We need to retreat!" Storm said, yelling over Typhoon firing.

"I will when you do," Rayne replied.

"Deal. Let's go." Storm shifted Typhoon into a shield, and drew Excelsior. "Run!"

The Storm ran alongside Rayne. Rayne was a fast sprinter, but Storm was better for running for long periods of time, due to his exo-skeleton doing most of the work. He paced himself, making sure that he didn't go so fast as to encourage Rayne to exhaust himself by going too fast.

They got to the door of the main school buildings, and saw four familiar people standing in front of it. Norbert, Skye, Redell, and Shay; their mother's brother, and his family. Shay had her white hoodie, fatigues, boots, and armor on—her Huntress's garb.

"Nephews," Norbert said as he stepped forward, his gray armor clanking as he moved. "Go into the school. We'll handle these Grimm wannabes."

Neither of them questioned him, and they went into the school. "Wonder where mom is," Rayne said.

"I hope back in Mistral," Storm replied.

"We could sure use her help here though." Maybe… They would need every Hunter to help survive this invasion.


	18. Chapter 18: Team Sapphire

**In this chapter, we follow characters that have barely made an appearance anywhere else in my writings. Awesome.**

* * *

Skye drew her dual katana in preparation for the battle. No Grimm came at them; students at the sides of the courtyard were drawing their attention. Only White Fang charge them, if everything went according to plan.

A line of White Fang thugs assembled in front of them. They were led by a man with horns in his red hair, a suit that looked as if he stopped getting dressed midway through, and a Grimm mask over his upper face. He was holding what looked like a rifle or a scabbard with a sword in it—a katana by the look of the hilt. The man fit the description of Adam Taurus, known White Fang agent and/or leader—reports were iffy. "Who are you?" Taurus asked.

Her father chuckled. "You don't know?" he said. He drew his claymore, and pointed it straight at Taurus. "I am Norbert Sapphire, this is my family, and today we will exact justice." Taurus drew his sword, and pointed its tip to her dad's. "Your victims have been the jury, the survivors the judges, and we… we are the executioners."

"I've heard of you," Taurus replied. "You're just more stinking humans who get in the way of equality."

"Well we can't expect him to know everything, now can we?" her mother—Shay—said with a hint of amusement.

"Sorry about them ruining your coming out of retirement party, dear," her dad said.

"I don't mind, Bertie," her mom replied. "Besides, I'd rather do this any day of the week."

"Except for Sunday."

"Except Sundays."

"Can we fight?" a particularly big and muscular thug with a big chainsaw said.

"Yeah, I'd say that it's time to fight," her mom said as she removed a crystal ball the size of a softball from a pouch at her belt. "Anybody ready for cricket?" The thugs looked quizzically at her—Taurus even cocked his head. "Augh, it's a lost game." And she tossed the ball into the air, hit it with the red Dust crystal in the head of her long alabaster staff, and it flew at the crowd of White Fang.

The crystal ball sailed true, and found the thugs. As it hit the chest of one of them, a fiery explosion erupted. The crystal ball returned to her mom's hand, perfectly fine. But then the explosion began to collapse in on itself somehow, and all went to a single spot—Taurus's drawn sword. The sword glowed red as it absorbed the explosion. "Right," her mom said, disappointed.

"Duck," her dad said just as Taurus swung his sword. A wave of energy came from the blade with a deadly look to it. Skye ducked just in time, as did her parents, with the wave passing over them harmlessly.

But Redell took the wave in the chest. The wall behind his bore a nasty scorch, and he was unharmed—he didn't even flinch. "Oh no," Skye said softly.

"Big mistake," Redell said with a growl in his voice. The eyes of his helmet began to glow—she had never figured out why they did that—and he drew his own claymore. She tried to stop him, but there was no reasoning with him when he was like this. "You three take the thugs," he snarled. "Leave Taurus to me."

They shouldn't have let him do this. He was giving into the beast; he was activating his semblance, which they wished he wouldn't. His strength would increase at the cost of his mind for a time. Skye worried for her brother when he was like that. But then again, after what Taurus just did, they would need to be at their strongest to defeat him, and Redell was strongest when he was like that. For now, they would have to tolerate the beast.

Redell charged forward, and slammed his sword against Taurus's repeatedly. While the other White Fang thugs tried to help their leader, their weapons bounced off him harmlessly. His aura was stronger than any other's during this blood rage. He forced Taurus out of formation with the other White Fang, and back into the courtyard.

Her mom launched another crystal ball into the crowd of thugs, this time resulting in an electrical explosion. This time the thugs were defenseless against it, and the fell to the ground—all except one that is. The chainsaw wielding thug took the bolts, and kept standing, nearly unfazed by the electricity. As the ball returned to her mom's hand, the thug said, "You'll have to do better than that to kill me!"

Skye charged with the speed of a viper, and struck with the power of an ox. She stabbed at his chest, knowing that the attack would easily kill him. But when her blades struck, and not even his armor was scratched, a feeling of dread grew within her. What was this guy made of?

He countered, swinging his chainsaw to bear. She was so dazed by her failed attack that she couldn't dodge in time. She was hit with the force of a train, and she flew back to the feet of her parents. She looked at her armor and saw that her aura had held, and no scratches were on it. She wondered how long her aura would hold.

She wondered how long they would be able to survive against him.

* * *

As the red mist around his eyes lifted, Redell felt as if he had woken up from a half-remembered dream. Every time he activated his semblance, he felt this way afterwards. He worried what he had done while he had given in to the beast. But none of that mattered, as he was in battle now.

His opponent he remembered: Adam Taurus, who now stood ten feet from him. The battleground: the courtyard of Beacon, which had been filled with Grimm. Now all he had to do was finish the fight.

He charged Taurus, swinging his claymore at Taurus's neck. He managed to block the blade, but Redell could tell that a lot of effort went into that. He would tire out Taurus, and then finish him off.

Taurus was on the defensive for some time. He was obviously wasn't used to fighting defensively, or else he'd be better at it. He dodged, he parried, and he tired. This would be an easy battle, if Redell's luck held.

Taurus disengaged from Redell. His breath was ragged, and his movements slow, like he was sore. "You're a strong human, I'll give you that," Taurus said.  
Redell growled angrily, and attacked again.

He fought him to the cliff, and then he gave Taurus a chance. "Surrender and I promise that you will be fairly judged," Redell said.

"Surrender to a human like you?" Taurus replied.

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Redell shouted angrily. "You know nothing! If you knew a thing about me, you'd know that calling me a human is like calling a dog a cat." He removed his helmet, letting Taurus see his ears—his wolf ears. He let Taurus see one of the things that marked him a Faunus—the other thing was his tail, and he definitely wasn't showing him that.

"You're a Faunus!" Taurus said, surprised.

"Yep," Redell said as he put his helmet back on. "They aren't fake."

"Huh. Thought that the Sapphires were all human."

"No."

"Why take their pity?" He was confused. "Join us and turn against those adopted parents of yours."

Now that was it. "They're my real parents! My mother, Shay Sapphire, is a Faunus. Their blood is my blood. Their loyalty is mine, and mine is theirs. You are going to DIE by my hand, Taurus, for what you think about my parents!"

In his rage, he only heard the sound of footsteps until too late. He was hit from behind by something hard and loud. He was knocked over flat on his face.

"Finish him," Taurus said. "I have business in the academy."

"Right, boss," a deep voice replied. And he heard footsteps leave.

He tried getting up, and a firm boot slammed into his back. He couldn't activate his semblance—it'd be another hour or so before he could do that again. He was helpless.

All he could do was stare sideways to the cliff, expecting an end to his life. He tried to struggle out of it, but the boot kept him from doing anything. It was the end. He was going to die. Dread crept into him, and he wanted to cry.

Then a white and yellow blur flew up the cliff, and the boot was lifted off him with a loud wham! He looked up and saw a man in yellow and white armor, and shaggy blond hair, who was standing on top of a huge White Fang thug. He only saw him from the side, but the armored man carried no weapon, but had blades sticking out of his braces. The thug's weapon was safely out of reach.

Redell could see a couple of young Huntresses—students most likely—crossing into the courtyard. He recognized one of them as one of Yang Xiao Long's teammate, which probably meant that the other was one as well. This was good. Reinforcements were arriving.

"Who is your leader?" the man asked. His voice sounded somewhat familiar.

"I won't tell you," the thug replied.

A blade came out of his wrist, and the blonde guy stabbed the White Fang in the chest. The White Fang didn't even groan. "You can't do anything to me."

"His leader's name is Adam Taurus," Redell said. "And mine is Redell."

The blond guy turned his head. "Yeah I remember you. We met during the tournament." It was Cirocco—one of Storm's friends. "Though it wasn't in a match, oddly enough. Weird." It was an odd place and time to meet someone again. "Thanks for the name. Now I'm going to kill him."

"Not before I kill him," Redell said. "He insulted my heritage."

"Well he killed part of mine; my dad's dead because of that slime, and I'll see him die for that." That changed the matter considerably.

"You go first then." Cirocco removed his blade from the thug, and ran towards the school.

Redell was about to follow him when the thug stood back up. Both of them went for their weapons, and began what could be called a fair fight.

* * *

 **No, you're not going to see that fight. But still, it would be awesome to watch!**


	19. Chapter 19: Death Gives an Intoduction

**I should go ahead and warn you now, there is some minor swearing in this chapter. Just so you know.**

* * *

Faye had brought Crystal and her friend Nixie to the pile of rubble where Rusti was buried. It had taken her a while to find them. They were fighting in the streets outside a café when she found them. She did not know who else to go to in this situation.

Crystal seemed just as lost. "So, Rusti's under there," Crystal said.

"And a girl he was with—Fuchsia," Faye said.

"I have no idea how we're going to move all that rubble," Nixie said.

"I might be of some assistance." They turned around and saw a woman with a white robe and dark green hair edging on black. Crystal pointed her blades at the woman. "Don't worry, Crystal Taryn, I do not wish a rematch."

Faye was surprised. "You know her, Crystal?" Faye asked.

"She has met me in battle, Feather Faye Elric," the woman said. How did she know her name? She looked to Nixie. "And you are Nixie Frayne. What do the nobles have against middle names anyway?"

"So you know our names," Crystal said. "Care to give yours?"

"My name is Valene," the woman said. "And we need your help at the school."

Crystal sneered. "Who's we: Cinder or Jet?"

"Jet if you must know." Faye had no idea what they were talking about, and she really wanted to know. "Now come, Faye, if that is what you wish to be called, for there is something we must do."

"No, I will not leave with Rusti under there!" Her defiance surprised even her. But after all, Rusti was her teammate, and enough people had died today already.

Valene frowned. "As you wish." She stepped close to Faye and spoke in a voice only she could hear. "My semblance allows me to manipulate minerals. I can only lift one twentieth of the weight I would normally lift. I will get your friend out from under there only if you help me do it. Use your semblance to mimic mine."

She was surprised. She had only recently revealed her semblance to Storm, and now someone else knew of it. While they could have been listening in, she wondered who this person was, and how she knew this. But she was not turn away help. "I will do it."

Valene took off her robe—underneath was a leather combat suit that was a bit revealing—and stepped towards the pile of rubble, and put her hand to it. Faye began to take on the semblance of Valene, and she could feel the drain on her aura as she did. She put her hand to the rubble as well, and then Valene exerted her power into the pile, prompting Faye to do it as well. As they moved the rubble away from where Rusti and Fuchsia were, she could feel her strength ebb. Then they managed to uncover Rusti lying down with Fuchsia on top of him.

She imagined a joke for this situation which she would never tell about Fuchsia being on top.

Rusti managed to stand up, picking up Fuchsia as he did. He carried her out of the rubble. Fuchsia looked weak, and there was a nasty gash on her side.

She halfway reminded Faye of Ember when she left her. She wondered if Ember was okay, or had she died?

Above, a dropship flew in. Inside was Atlesian soldiers and a team of students. While she didn't recognize the students, Crystal seemed to. "Soyala," Crystal said. "We need to get this woman to a hospital."

A darker woman with a spear nodded. "Lieutenant," she said to a soldier next to her, "Get her out of here. Make sure she gets to a hospital."

Fuchsia was loaded onto the dropship. Rusti chose not to go with her. As soon as the troops were off, the dropship took off, heading, she assumed, for a hospital.

Then she met team SNOW for a brief moment. A woman she recognized from Atlas tournaments—Whitney Songbird—came up to her. "Hello, I'm Whitney Songbird," she said. "It's great to see another descendant of the Great Bird."

She cocked her head. "I do not believe in that legend, nor did I know if anyone else did."

"Eh, just a saying," Whitney said. "Still, it's rare to see another bird Faunus." She wasn't sure how to reply.

Before she could, Soyala said, "Whitney, we need to move out."

"Alright." She turned back to Faye. "See yah." And then the quartet charged into battle.

Crystal seemed to notice Rusti's choice of weapon, and said, "Where's your hammer?"

"Back at the academy," Rusti replied.

"And you didn't think to call your locker?"

Rusti's hand hit his face with a force that looked like it hurt. "Crap. I didn't." He took out his scroll, and called his locker. Faye hadn't remembered it either, and would have face-palmed herself if she wasn't wearing gauntlets.

A firm hand grasped her shoulder. "It's time to go," Valene said.

She supposed it was fair. Valene helped them save Rusti, and now Faye had to do something for her. But she would keep in mind what it was, as she did not trust Valene in any respect. "Lead the way."

* * *

Azura was nearly out of ammo. Standoff was fully loaded, but that was it. She had switched to her Dust blade to conserve ammo. She would need every shot against the Grimm.  
Students were arriving at Beacon to defend it from the Grimm. While she and the other students already defending it were glad for the reinforcements, it was getting worse. The Atlesian Knights had turned on them, gunning down students and soldiers rather than Grimm and White Fang. She didn't like the robots in the first place, but why were they doing it now? In any case, they'd need everyone they could get against the Grimm.

A group of Atlesian Knights fired on where Azura, Isabella, Gaia, and Russel were. Azura ducked under cover behind a planter as everyone else sought cover. As pieces of shrubbery fell on her head, Russel yelled. She looked over and saw he was unharmed, but his weapon was in pieces. "I just got that fixed!" Russel said angrily.

"Where's your leader?" Azura asked. They could use a bit of help.

"The rest of our team's in the hospital!" Isabella said, very tense.

"Shit."

"No swearing on my team!" Azura looked to her right and Storm was running in to their cover with his shield up. He sat down next to her and lowered his shield. "Came to help. How's it going here?"

"Bad," Azura replied.

"Got any advice for taking down a robot with armor that withstands a high caliber bullet?" Isabella asked.

Storm looked around the cover, and snapped his head back quick. "Aim right below the chest plate; it'll probably give you a better chance. But when in doubt, aim for the head."

"So useful," Russel said, sounding sarcastic.

Storm seemed to stare at Russel weapon for a while as Isabella ducked in and out of cover shooting at Atlesian Knights. "What's that?" Storm said, pointing to Russel's weapon.

"That is a high-grade plasma cannon," Russel replied.

Storm's eyes grew wide. "You got to show me how that works some time."

As Storm and Isabella finished off the Knights, they came out of cover. There were bodies of both Knights and soldiers littering the field. It took a moment for her to realize the horror this represented. In all her experience, she had never seen so costly a battle.

Then the rumbling began. The earth shook with incredible ferocity, and the air moved with it. A mountain just outside of the boarders of Vale cracked and split open. Then, like a baby chicken coming out of its egg, a massive Grimm five times the bigger than any Nevermore came out of the mountain, leaving the shell behind.

The Grimm immediately took flight with its huge red translucent wings. A black substance dripped from its hide, falling on the city below. Out from the substance came Grimm of every kind. Dread filled Azura at its sight.

As it flew, Azura got a good look at it. It had a thick outer skull. Armor in a ribcage-like pattern covered its body. It had two thick legs and a long tail with a round thing at the end with spikes coming out of it. She did not know its name, but if death had a name, then it would share it with that thing.

Beside her Storm said, "You have my permission to cuss."

* * *

 **And with that we end Part 2. Thank you to everyone who has read this far, and while you may have been expecting a better ending, I figured that since the last part had nineteen chapters, this should have nineteen as well. And forget epilogues; they only take up time and do nothing to finish off the plot. Anyway, see you when Part 3 comes out.**

 **BAZINGA! I've actually got a little more to post, and I'm going to post two chapters tomorrow to make up for this.**


	20. Chapter 20: Powers of Old

**Have fun reading, whoever didn't fall for that little joke (it was very little), this chapter.**

* * *

Valene led Faye into a tunnel leading under the city of Vale. While there was something that felt like an earthquake while they were down there, Valene said that it was no earthquake, and that the tunnel would hold. She wondered what it had been. The tunnel led to a huge cavern, which Faye wondered how it formed.

The light from the lantern Valene was carrying may have been enough for a human to see somewhat well, the light was enough for her to see the whole cave. But the shape and color of the cave was not as interesting as the people there.

"So, what's your name?" said a man with a green coat and red hair. She was about to answer when he said, "Faye Elric. Nice name. Can we get on with this?"

"Guthrie, stop reading her mind," Valene said. "And if you read my mind, I'll break your arm again."

"Okay, sheesh." This man could read her mind? She was uncomfortable with that idea. "By the way, the dragon showed up." A dragon?

"If only Dayton was here," Valene said. "Perhaps he could make something to beat it."

"No, I don't think so," the man, apparently called Guthrie, said. "He's never made anything that big before, and besides, he'd probably give his own flare to it. You know how he botched that proxy of Qrow, and he'd probably do the same here."

"Good point." Wait, Qrow? Was the Huntsman she had shadowed an imposter of some sort? Even if she asked, they probably would not tell her. She could only wonder what they meant by all that.

Instead, she had to ask something else. "What do you want me for?"

Valene remained emotionless. "Come with me, Faye. I'll explain it to you as we walk." She obeyed, and Valene led her deeper into the cave, through another tunnel. Guthrie followed them. "A long time ago, during the Great War, the king of Vacuo fell in battle against the armies of Vale. His weapon was hidden in this cave, and encased in its own power."

Faye wondered what the meant by that. Then she saw it. A sabre encased in a block of ice on top of a stone pedestal. It must have been infused with his semblance or Dust or something if it was "encased in its own power".

"There it is," Valene said, equally enraptured by the sight. "The Wind Blade; a blade of kings."

"Why do you need me?" Faye asked.

Valene turned to Faye. "The ice surrounding this weapon is magic, and cannot be removed by any heaters we can bring down here. It can only be removed, we believe, by someone with a specific semblance." She turned to Guthrie. "You understand it better than me, Guthrie. Explain it."

"Alright," Guthrie said. "You see, the person with this semblance is able to channel their anger to generate heat from their hands, and can remove heat when they're afraid."

"We were going to bring in the person who has this semblance," Valene explained, "but this Grimm invasion has required us to expedite our plans. You're going to have to do."

"I should tell you," Faye said, "I do not mimic semblances perfectly. They are always less powerful."

"That just mean you're going to have to be angrier," Guthrie said in a harsh voice. "Now melt it before we have to abandon Vale." She ignored his tone, and put her hands to the ice block. "You're going to want to remove your gloves—they might burst into flames if you're not careful."

Faye removed the armor and cloth from her hands, and put them to the ice. She tried thinking of something that really angered her, but everything failed—Rusti, racists, everything. Then something crossed her mind that she almost rejected.

Talon. She had tried forgetting him, but no matter what, she could not. Now she would have to embrace the memories.

She remembered Talon. She remembered the bond that had grown between them; remembered the good times they had. She remembered training at Asylum. And she remembered his betrayal.

She remembered how she lost him. She had lost him to his own betrayal. He thrown her trust and her love to the wind; dashed them away like it was nothing. And with his betrayal she remembered an old hate that went with it—what took Talon from her. She remembered the White Fang taking her beloved Talon away from her, and turning him into one of them!

She felt tears of anger and sorrow burn down her face as the flood of memories came. She closed her eyes, trying to hide her tears. But no; she had to embrace her emotions. She had to remember Talon.

She could not deny this now. Talon had burned her unlike any had, and the White Fang had been the instrument of this. If anything could draw her hatred, this would.

"Alright, alright, stop or you'll melt the blade!" Guthrie said. Faye opened her eyes and saw that the ice was gone from around the blade. She had been angrier than she thought.

"Good, good," Valene said as she circled the pedestal. "Now all we need is someone to wield it."

She sensed that they could not have good intent behind this, and grabbed the blade from the pedestal, and pointed it towards them. It was a reasonable assumption that the blade was more powerful than anything she had. But it was more powerful than she thought.

The blade's power coursed through her. She felt strong—stronger than she had ever felt before. It felt amazing!

"Oh, so we already have a volunteer," Guthrie said calmly. Valene however was panicking. "I didn't know she was related to the royal line of Vacuo."

Faye cocked her head. "Neither did I."

"You must be related to old King Caius; he had a lot of kids," Guthrie said.

"We can trace her lineage later," Valene hissed. "For now you must understand the power you wield.

"The Wind Blade was given to Vacuo by the Maiden of Fall." The Maiden of Fall? Did she mean one of the Maidens from the bedtime story? The Four Maidens, by the end, could control the power of the elements. "It is infused with the power of that Maiden. The wielder is faster and stronger than any normal human. Now, do you understand what you must do?

"Do you understand that you must join us? Our order is committed to unifying the world under one banner, but we cannot do that without strong individuals like you. You would certainly qualify."

Faye considers this for one second. "No."

"Too bad," Valene said. Rock engulfed Faye's legs, and she couldn't move! "We'll just have to find someone else."

"Stop!" Faye turned her head and saw at the entrance Crystal, Nixie, and one other. She had shaggy red hair, red and golden armor like that of a knight of old, a long red cape, and a broad sword that shifted its color from red to orange to yellow, like fire. "Step away from Faye and you may make it out of this alive," Crystal said.

"They have the other Maiden Blades," Guthrie whispered to Valene.

Valene frowned. "Another time then." And she used her semblance to open the cave wall. She and Guthrie went through the opening, and it closed back up.

"Thank you, all of you," Faye said gratefully.

"I couldn't let her just take you who knows where," Crystal said. As Faye managed to remove the rock around her legs with Valene semblance, Crystal introduced the woman Faye didn't recognize. "This is Solana Nuri, wielder of the Flame Blade of Vale."

"For what good it was," Solana said bitterly. "It didn't save my team."

"We'll avenge your teammates today, on the battlefield on the surface," Crystal said. She paused for a second. "We need to go, now!" she said urgently. "Things have gotten far worse up there than I ever thought they could."

* * *

 **Go ahead and leave whatever reviews you want. Come on, I think I can take it. It would at least be more reviews than I normally get, which is none. Really, I have a total of 1 reviews on my stories, but that's more reviews than I've left. I've practically handed you two topics: "Who is Talon?" and "Why the & #% did I involve the Maidens?" Personally, I would like to have some feedback on this stuff. But anyway, enough of my whining about not getting reviews. Read on!**


	21. Chapter 21: Taking the Bull by the Horns

Cirocco ran through the grounds of Beacon, looking for Taurus. All around him, Grimm were trying to kill everyone. Students and soldiers were holding their own for the most part, but occasionally they would themselves be killed. The students didn't really need his help, so he could focus on Taurus—if he could find him.

He was frustrated. He didn't know how long he'd been searching, but Taurus was nowhere to be found. But he couldn't elude him forever. He knew that eventually he'd find Taurus and kill him.

A Beowulf took notice of him, and charged at him. It swiped at him with its claws, so he ducked, and its paw passed over him harmlessly. He then kicked the Grimm in the ribs, spun around, and stabbed it in the throat with his wrist blade. The Beowulf died instantly, and fell to the ground. He had no time for Grimm.

As he passed the cafeteria, he saw two young women staggering out. They were covered in blood from their own wounds, and one of them was even missing a hand. He thought that he remembered them as members of team RWBY, but he couldn't remember much else. Their wounds couldn't have been from Grimm—too finely cut—so it had to be from something else. He ran into the cafeteria and saw Adam Taurus standing there.

He eyed Taurus with contempt and hatred. He had hunted Taurus for half his life, and now he was right before him. Taurus had killed his father and left his sister scarred—both physically and mentally. If anyone he knew of didn't have a soul, it was Taurus.

"Get out of my way!" Taurus said. He acted like he didn't recognize Cirocco. They'd fought just before the tournament, if only briefly, until Clove had taken the fight away from him. Why didn't Taurus recognize him?

It didn't matter. Cirocco leapt straight at Taurus with a semblance infused leap. Taurus drew his blade, and Cirocco blocked with the blades on his forearm. He then channeled his hatred into his aura, and stabbed Taurus in the side with his wrist blade, his aura making the attack much stronger. Taurus yelled with pain, and staggered back. Taurus checked his wound, and then looked at Cirocco questioningly. "Who are you?"

He was only too happy to indulge him. "I am Cirocco Zaphyr, son of Jay Zaphyr—a man you murdered years ago! I am also the brother of Clove Zaphyr, who you cut a leg off, and stabbed her eye—which is the least of the damage you did to her! Her mind doesn't work right anymore, a fact you exploited when you fought less than a week ago!"

"I didn't fight her then!" Taurus said defensively. "I wasn't on any missions recently!"

While he would have argued the matter, he had better things to do than to give Taurus a break. "It doesn't matter; you've done enough to my family!"

He leapt backwards to the wall, and then leapt off it back towards Taurus. He drew his sword, and tried slashing Cirocco, but he stopped the blade, and tried stabbing his throat this time.

But a gunshot sounded between them, and since Cirocco didn't use guns, there was no doubt that Taurus had fired it. He leapt back so that he'd have a chance to access the wound. There was a scorch mark on his armor, and some minor damage, but other than that, he was fine.

He raised his arms and launched the blades off his forearms. He'd used it… actually, while he remembered that he had used this recently, he couldn't remember on whom or when exactly. It bothered him, but that insecurity could wait for later. Right now Taurus needed his attention. He deflected the blades out of the air with his sword—so much for that plan.

Cirocco went back to his original strategy, and leapt at high speeds straight at Taurus. Taurus swung his sword to intercept him, but Cirocco parried it with his left wrist blade, and stabbed with his right. The blade damaged Taurus's aura, and he grunted. A blade of any kind going that fast would hurt.

He then planted his feet on Taurus's chest, and launched himself off. Both Taurus and Cirocco were flung to the walls, but while Cirocco had experience turning himself around in midair and was able to land safely—albeit on the wall—, Taurus wasn't so lucky and smashed into the wall. The shock to his frame was probably going to immobilize him for a while.

Cirocco jumped off the wall again, and smashed into Taurus. He couldn't raise his sword in time, so Cirocco managed to land a very damaging hit. The wall gave way. It was then that he realized how much insulation, wiring, framework, plaster, and concrete that went into that wall, because half of it went up his nose for a second. They tumbled outside, making a small crater in the pavement.

Cirocco, seeing that Taurus was still dazed, jumped off him, into the sky. As he was whizzing towards the sky, he saw a Nevermore flying where he would go. As he and the Grimm intersected, he leapt off it, back down to the ground. He sped towards Taurus faster than he'd ever gone before.

As he smashed into Taurus, a huge dust cloud exploded around them. He didn't feel right. While he had expected to feel something as he took revenge, whatever he felt wasn't anything he was particularly familiar with. Then, as the dust dissipated, he realized that he was familiar with it. What he felt was pain, and what he saw was Taurus stabbing him in the gut.

Cirocco tried to fight as Taurus pushed him off of him, but he couldn't summon the strength to do it. He was tired from the battle, and the pain in his gut distracted him. Taurus stood up, and walked away from him as he was clutching his stomach. Without even a word, Taurus left him to die.

Cirocco got to his hands and knees, staring at Taurus. He would've tried going after him, but he couldn't even stand.

"Taurus!" he said, coughing up a bit of blood as he did. It felt horrible to cough it up. "Why don't you finish me?"

"You're not worth my time," Taurus said, not even slowing his walk. As he walked, he passed a person that he said something to, and kept going.

As the figure walked out of the shadows, he was surprised to see who it was. It was a young woman, a bit on the small side, with a black mark across her eyes that he didn't know if it was makeup or something else. She pulled back her hood, and he saw two pointed ears poking out of black hair with streaks of gray and white. She looked kinda like a raccoon, and was the prettiest girl he'd seen, though some people might not think so. She was probably taken.

In her hand was a strange looking weapon. It was a single-edged sword, he thought, made of a clear material that he thought looked like diamond. There was a seam in the middle of the sword from edge to edge, and a hinge connecting the two sections. It had a rubber grip on the hilt and on the second section of the sword, on the opposite side from the sharp edge. If she didn't kill him with it, he'd have so many questions about it.

"Who are you?" Cirocco asked. His head was throbbing, making it hard to think. She was probably White Fang, but something told him she wasn't.

"Your executioner," she said. Well that was disappointing.

She put her left hand on the second grip, and raised it above her head. As she was about to swing it at his head, a blast of green energy hit her. The woman was knocked back, and slammed against a wall. Cirocco looked to the source of the blast, and saw… Nuts. Clove had just rescued him.

He suddenly felt very weak, and collapsed. Clove ran up to him, and put her hand on his wound. His pain quickly subsided, but he felt a little light-headed. "That should do it," Clove said.

"Clove, as always, it's terrible to see you," Cirocco said.

"Same." He sat up. As always, her abilities had healed him. His body glove under his armor was soaked with blood. But at least he wasn't going to bleed to death.

They looked over to the White Fang woman, and she was getting back up. Before she could grab her sword, Clove pinned it with her leg. "What's your name?" Clove asked.

She sneered, and after a moment, said, "Kit."

"You don't have to fight, Kit," Clove urged. "Whatever wrongs have been committed to you, it doesn't justify killing."

"Save your preaching," Kit said, and pulled a rifle he hadn't noticed before off her back. She fired, and Clove dodged.

Cirocco jumped at her, tackling her to the ground. While his wound felt sore, it didn't hurt as much as when he was actually bleeding out. He pinned her arms down, but that didn't stop her from kicking him in his backside. He fell over, and she pulled her rifle on him. But Clove's blade at her throat stopped Kit from firing. "Give up," Clove said.

"Fine," Kit said. "But I request asylum."

Asylum? "Are you defecting?" Cirocco asked.

"Yep, and I'd like to keep that a secret for now, or else I won't make it out of this battle alive."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you that when there aren't Grimm everywhere!" And she fired her rifle at a Grimm Cirocco hadn't noticed was sneaking up on them.

"Alright."

Overhead, a giant flying Grimm circled. "Dragon!" Clove yelled.

"Technically it's a Wyvern," Cirocco corrected.

"It doesn't matter!" Clove snapped. "We need to take that thing down!" He couldn't argue with that.

* * *

 **I planned for this fight during the off-season over and over again, but it's a lot different than what I planned. I originally planned for Cirocco to win and leave him to bleed to death, so as to leave his fate ambiguous. I also thought this would follow a fight where Blake fought Adam (like in the show), except that I thought that Blake would win and spare Adam in the cliche' "Hero spares Villain despite their crimes" scenario, but as it turns out, she didn't get the chance to spare him. I also thought that Cirocco would grab Adam's sword out of his hand, and start using it, but again, that probably would have caused him to have his hand sliced in two as it turns out. So Cirocco loses, but he survives anyway. Fun times.**


	22. Chapter 22: Gems of a Different Sort

Faye glided above the city of Vale, looking for some place that needed her help. Crystal had suggested such, and she found it difficult to argue with her. The Wind Blade she held at her side, as it would have been foolish to discard it. When she saw a large group of Goliath Grimm going towards a section of the wall, and a group of soldiers trying to stop it, Faye knew where her steel would be needed.  
This was one of the few walls situated between mountains that Vale had. It was at least a hundred feet tall, fifty feet thick, and made of stone reinforced with steel. She also had no doubt that Dust also had some part in its construction, but she was not sure how. It could withstand most Grimm, but the Goliaths that were headed for it might just have enough strength to take it down.  
She landed atop the wall, in the section that the Atlesians were standing, and they almost jumped as she did. A couple pointed their rifles at her. She was afraid that'd she would be shot just because of a misunderstanding for a brief moment. But they turned back to the Goliaths, and continued their futile barrage.  
"Faye!" A pair of arms wrapped around her friendlily from the side. From the orange hair and pointed ears, she knew that it had to be Lorna. "I'm so glad to see you're alight!" Lorna said, relieved.  
She turned and returned the hug. "So am I," Faye replied.  
"Sorry to break up this reunion." Faye and Lorna parted, and she saw Lorna's leader—Athena Polias—walk over. Her blue-green armor and sandals were odd looking, especially next to the dress-like garment that she wore under it. "We have more dire concerns."  
Faye always felt like she should bow in the presence of Athena. She gave off an almost royal air, despite her almost average stature—well, average for a Huntress. Faye always managed to fight the instinct, but it was difficult sometimes to stop herself.  
"If those Goliaths managed to get to the wall, they could break it down, and more hoards could come through it," Athena said. "I managed to get this squad up here," she gestured to the soldiers, "but everyone else is busy somewhere else! I don't even know how we're going to take these things down."  
Faye looked at the sword in her hands. It made her stronger and faster with a magic that she did not understand. It might have even been more powerful, but she could not know. But she had to fight, or else no one else would—possibly. She tightened her grip on it and said, "I will help bring those monsters down."  
Athena shook her head. "Firepower will win this battle; not swords. We need something more powerful; something that can punch through airships."  
"Can we help?" Faye turned around and saw four people walking along the wall—armed.  
Starting at the left, there was a woman with blue-green hair. She wore a black shirt, with a black skirt that went to almost her knees, and black leggings under that. She also wore leather boots and a turquoise combat vest, and silvery armor on her chest, shins, and forearms, with fiery blue Dust crystals in the forearms and shins. At her belt was a sheath with a long sword in it, and at the cross guard was a Dust crystal.  
Next was a man with blond hair and slightly darker skin than the others. His long golden-yellow coat obscured most of his clothing, except for a pair of thick gloves, and tall boots. He held two backswords with what looked like pistols built into the hilt.  
At the middle right of the group was an interesting woman. She had black hair and eyes darker than any other Faye had seen. Her dress was black, though the sparkly effect it had made it looked like the night sky. She held a staff that had a blade in the shape of a crescent moon positioned like the blade of an axe.  
The final one was a man carrying a silvery hammer over his shoulder. His blue overalls and white shirt made him seem like an ordinary citizen, but the bandolier of Dust shells made it clear he was a Huntsman—or at least, in training. He looked almost like he was from Vacuo, but she knew that he wasn't.  
The woman with the turquoise vest—Taline—bowed lowed and said, "Team TRCS at your service."  
"It's a good thing you're here," Athena said. "I thought you weren't coming."  
"Blame Raye," Taline continued. "If it wasn't for him, we would have missed our flight."  
"Hey!" Raye—the blond haired man—said indignantly. "I prefer to stop and smell the roses sometimes."  
"We could have won the tournament if it wasn't for you!" Slater—the hammer wielder—said.  
"I would prefer it if we could get on with it," Celeste—the one with the starry dress—said. "There are Grimm at Vale's gate, and you three bicker like… whatever bickers a lot."  
"Nice one," Raye said sarcastically.  
The sound of something hard slamming into the wall floor caught everyone's attention. It was Wade, with the butt of his rifle on the ground. Behind him was Hiro, with his sword on his shoulder. "If you want to be of help, go kill something," Wade said simply.  
"Can't argue with that," Taline admitted. "Let's go." She turned to the oncoming Grimm. "Raye and I will take the smaller Grimm surrounding the Goliaths. Celeste, Slater, you go after the Goliaths."  
"No problem," Slater replied.  
Faye was ready to help, but her Scroll beeped, and she was forced to answer. It was Storm. "Storm, what is it?" she asked.  
"We're evacuating Beacon," Storm said. "We need you on air control over here."  
She looked to Athena. "You flatter yourself if you think we need you that badly," Athena said. "I think TRCS will be enough."  
She nodded and turned back to the Scroll. "I will be there momentarily."  
"Good. We need you right away!" And Storm hung up.  
Faye extended her wings, and turned to Lorna. "I'll be fine. Just go," Lorna said. She hoped that she would. Faye was about to take off when Lorna added, "Be careful."  
"As much as possible," Faye replied. And she took off. She hoped that Lorna would survive this battle.

Taline watched as Slater set up his weapon. He set the hammer on the wall, the head on top of an outcropping, and dug the other end—that had a spike on it—into the concrete. One of the soldiers that saw what Slater was doing, and made an objection that was ignored. He cocked the weapon, and put one of the shells into an opening. Then, he fired the shell at the Goliaths, and the one he hit exploded and died instantly.  
The explosion left a ringing in Taline's ears for a while. After it cleared away, she heard Slater say, "…wonder if Grimm have curse words, because they're probably be saying them now."  
"Well, I'll tell you once I get down there, Slater," Taline said, and jumped off the wall. As she fell, she took her sword out and stabbed into the wall. It slowed her descent, and did little damage to the wall itself when compared to the sheer size of the wall. When she landed, it was with an impact that reverberated through her body, and dizzied her to the point where she fell over.  
Raye helped her up, and she put away her sword. She wouldn't need it if all she was fighting were Beowulves and Ursai. "Ready to fight?" Raye asked.  
"Of course not, but I'll do it anyway," Taline said playfully.  
She ran at the Grimm, head first, alongside Raye. Their eyes were set on a pair of Beowulves, and they didn't need to tell each other which one they'd be going for. Her sword knocked against her left leg, paining her somewhat. They were about ten yards from the Grimm when they made their moves.  
While Taline still had a ways to go, Raye began his attack. He began to make a spinning arc with his backswords. When they almost five feet from the Grimm, Taline leapt at her Beowulf, hugging its jaw shut. Meanwhile, Raye teleported to behind his target, and completed his arc, severing the Grimm's spine and presumably organs while Taline put her boots on her Grimm's chest. She then pulled with all her might, and ripped the Grimm's head off.  
She fell back to the ground, discarded the Beowulf head, and stood up again. Around them were dozens of Grimm—sixty by her count. Perfect odds. "You take the thirty on the left, I'll take the thirty on the right," Taline said.  
"Alright," Raye said, and turned to his thirty. Then he yelled a… ridiculous war cry. "AAAAAAUUUUUGGGHHHH!"  
She shook her head, grinning. That guy hardly had the temperament of a warrior, but he was very effective.  
She turned to her Grimm. The Goliaths overhead were stomping on, uncaring of the battle that ranged underneath them. That was good, considering that she really didn't want to swing around her sword tonight.  
"Alright, boys," she said a little playfully. She lit her forearms on fire with the blue fire Dust in her armor. "You want to play, let's play!"


	23. Chapter 23: Feather and Fangs

Faye was flying in, trying to avoid notice from the Grimm Dragon. She had trouble believing a Grimm that big could exist, but she could not take the chance that her mind was playing tricks on her, and kept her distance. Every so often, a Nevermore or Griffon would trouble her, but with the Wind Blade, she took care of them easily.

When she finally landed at the airfield, her flight pack made a strange noise. It was from all the flying, no doubt. It was running low on power. Unless she replaced the Dust crystal in there—which she could do with one of the crystals in her Hail Blasters—she wouldn't be able to fly safely.

On the airfield, it was a mess. There were students everywhere, some wounded, and others not as much. But among all of them, she could not find her teammates. Cirocco was there with a woman as tall as he was who looked somewhat like him, and… Kit. She ran up to them, and asked, "Cirocco, do you know where Storm and Azura are?"

"I think they're at the other airfield," Cirocco said. She was about to go when he added, "The White Fang is occupying that one. They're pulling out, but they're fighting like a cornered animal." He thought for a moment. "Sorry."

"I did not notice," Faye replied. She really hadn't.

Before she could go, Kit said, "Good to see you again, Feather."

Faye groaned. "I will deal with you later."

"Hope you do." She smiled. Her smile was insufferable.

Kit was another one from Asylum that had left for the White Fang. She and Talon had left together, much to her displeasure. If anyone had her contempt more than the White Fang's leader, it was Kit, who had helped convince Talon to join them. Of course, he might have come to the conclusion himself without her help, but Faye was not sure.

She ran to the second airfield, as fast as she could without switching her semblance, or accidentally cutting herself with the Wind Blade. As she ran, she could not help but think of her friends in danger. While she and Azura hadn't talked much lately, she was the closest thing that came to a friend after Storm. She feared that while Rusti would live, her other teammates would die.

As it came into view, she saw that the airfield was a warzone. Storm, Azura, and Gaia from team GRDN were fighting the White Fang at close range, while several other students were supporting them from a range—probably Storm's idea. The White Fang were constantly pulling back towards their dropships, but Storm and the others wouldn't let them go so easily—she wondered why.

Suddenly, a man with bull horns came up behind the rear carrying a glowing sword. "Look out!" she shouted. One of them with a rifle and a gilded coat turned around, and started firing at him. The man caught the bullets with his sword, and it began to glow brighter. As more students noticed him, he sent a wave of energy at them, knocking down most of them, and shattering the aura of others.

Faye took out one of her Hail Blasters. She wasn't going to shoot at him; she needed the crystal. She took off Ace—her flight pack—and replaced the nearly burned out crystal in it, and replaced it with one from her Hail Blaster. As soon as it was in, she closed the casing up, and put it back on. She would try something new this fight.

She took off, and flew over to the man. She slammed the hopefully invincible blade against the man's before he could reach Storm and Azura. "Get out of my way," the man growled.

"Not a chance," Faye replied. She took off again, and began making hit-and-run attacks on him.

During the battle, she changed her semblance to energy repulsion. She would need it before it was over.

The man sent a wave of energy at her, and she sent it back at him. It must have surprised him awful, because instead of reabsorbing it, the wave hit him dead on. He stumbled back, and he started shooting at her, which she again repulsed.

She then flung her feathers at him, some of them he stopped, and others hit his aura. She couldn't pull them back though without changing her semblance, so she left them on the ground.

She then engaged him in close range. She swung the Wind Blade fast, and he could barely keep up.

Throughout, she noticed that while he blocked with the edge, neither sword was being damaged. Most of the time, when one blocked with the edge, both swords would be damaged, no matter how much aura was between them. Evidentially, both swords were durable enough to take it.

After a while, she hit his sword so hard, that he lost his grip on it, and it stabbed into the ground a couple yards away. He was going to go for it when Faye put the Wind Blade to his wind pipe. He looked at her from behind his mask questioningly. She wasn't completely sure if she could end his life right there and then. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Just a student," Faye replied.

"I'm Adam Taurus, and you look like a Schnee." She growled. It always made her angry when her appearance was likened to that of a Schnee. It was doubly unfortunate that she had inherited that appearance primarily from her mother.

"I am Faye Elric, and I am no Schnee, you dirty…!" she almost yelled. Before she could react, Taurus knocked her sword away, and shot her with the gun built into his sheath. Her aura stopped it, but it gave him the opportunity to grab his sword.

"I didn't think so," Taurus said, and attacked again. They traded attacks for a while.

Then she did a risky maneuver. She spun around, using both the Wind Blade and her wings to attack. While she spun, she caught a glimpse of a black and green blur. Was hoped that she was just seeing things as she completed the spin.

Then a couple of shots came from behind—both to the small of her back, just below Ace. They took down her aura, and even knocked her down. Taurus then swung his sword at her sword, which she caught with her gauntleted left hand. She then stabbed him in the belly. "Take that you son of a *%^#!" she hissed.

Taurus staggered back, the sword sliding out of his flesh, and gripped the wound. She let go of his sword, and took a look at her own wound. It cut straight through to bone, but it did not hurt as much as she thought it might have. Taurus ran past her, careful to avoid her range.

He also avoided Storm and Azura, running straight to the dropships.

She stood up, and was about to join with Storm and the others, when another shot hit her right shoulder. It was a piercing pain, and reverberated through her whole body. She as knocked over by the sheer force of it, and looked to where it had come from. On a nearby rooftop, she saw a man with dark armor put a rifle five feet long and covered in long blades on his back, which turned into a wing. He then extended his wings, and flew off. Talon?

She then took note of how much blood she was losing from her wounds. While it wasn't much, she would need medical attention soon.

"Faye!" Storm yelled and ran over to her. He looked over her and said, "We need to get you out of here."

"I… Yes," she managed to say. And Storm pulled her up, supporting her by letting her drape her left arm over his shoulders. While her hand began to bleed on him, he didn't seem to mind.

"Azura, Gaia, let them go!" he yelled back. "There's no point!"

Azura disengaged, as did Gaia, and they ran from the White Fang lines. The White Fang didn't pursue, and only fired a few rounds to scare them off. They were lucky, she supposed.

Nearby, a heavily armored White Fang thug flew at them. There were knives impaling him all over his torso, and one in his head. Following him was Storm's cousin Redell, and a short blonde woman. "I think he's dead," the short one said.

"I'm taking his head just to be sure," Redell said. Faye almost hoped that he wasn't being serious.

Storm and Azura carried her to the dropships back at the first airfield, and got her on board. A medic began to look over her when she felt consciousness slip from her.

* * *

 **Before you say "Faye is overpowered", she's only overpowered with that sword. You see, it was the sword that allowed Faye to last as long as she did against Adam, along with her semblance. Also, he'd fought at least three or four other people that day, so he was tired. It was a combination of events that allowed Faye to even land a blow.**

 **Also, the reason I only posted two chapters is that I'm posting a new one-shot called "Cinder's End". It's long, and details Cinder's possible death at the hands of a small army of OCs. Also, it's not really in my canon, so... Yeah, go read it.**


	24. Chapter 24: the Wounded

**So yeah, I'm posting on a Friday. This is because I didn't post as many chapter on Monday, and I don't have as many chapters to post this time. Have fun.**

* * *

Faye's eyes flickered open, and she looked around. From her surroundings, she guessed that she was in a recovery room at a hospital. She had never woken up in a hospital before.

In a chair next to her sat Storm with his eyes shut, probably asleep. He still wore the sweater he had been wearing during the battle—she could see her blood on it. She wouldn't wake him—the battle probably had exhausted him. Instead she would see who else was there.

She sat up and looked around. While curtains were on either side of her, she could see Ember in a nearby bed, who was talking to Rayne. In another was Fuchsia, asleep. Rusti was just leaving a card when he noticed Faye.

He was about to say something when Faye put her finger to her lips. Rusti glanced at Storm and nodded. "He's been there since you came here," Rusti said softly. "Fell asleep almost immediately. He might not have meant to, actually. But I think he's a little smitten with you."

She wasn't sure how to process that. He… While he had asked her to the dance, she thought it was because he had no one else to go with, and she would not have been an alternative for anyone. She didn't think…

She decided to change the subject. "So, how is Fuchsia?"

"The docs say that she should be fine," Rusti explained.

"So, will you be visiting her again?" Faye asked.

"I don't think so," Rusti replied. Faye cocked an eyebrow. "I can't stand seeing anyone like this, let alone… I'll be going." He turned around and left. She would have called after him if it would not have disturbed Storm.

Instead she laid back on her pillow and checked her wounds. She had a bandage over her left hand, and it itched—apparently it hadn't healed yet. Then she went to check her shoulder wound when she noticed something.

She realized that she was in a hospital gown. She felt violated that someone had stripped her armor and body glove off, and put this on her. While she understood, she was still violated.

She carefully pulled back her sleeve, and spied the wound. It was barely visible, as it had already healed with the help of her aura. All it left was a faint scare almost invisible next to the rest of her skin.

She could barely believe Talon had shot her! His own…

Storm stirred. She pushed back her sleeve, and sat up. He finally woke up and saw her. "Good morning, I think," she said.

"Good morning," he said with a smile. "You're awake!"

"Yes, I am. Thank you for bringing me here."

He nodded. "So, how are you feeling? Are you okay?"

"I do not feel pain right now," she replied. "My hand wound itches, I am a little tired, but other than that I am all right."

"Great, good," Storm said. He seemed to want to say something else when a nurse came in.

"Good to see you awake, Ms. Elric," she said, checking the front of her bed. She imagined there was a clipboard up there displaying information important to doctors and nurses.

"The doctor will want to examine you soon. You know, to make sure you're okay."

"All right," Faye replied. While it made her uneasy, she supposed that since it was a doctor, she could trust him or her.

The nurse turned to Storm. "You'll have to go before then, sir."

"Alright." He started to get up.

"Wait." Storm stopped. "I want to talk to Storm for a bit." She turned to the nurse. "Is that okay?"

"Sure, just don't make it hours," the nurse said, and walked away to check on another patient.

Storm sat back down. "So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked.

"I…" she began. She was not sure how to say this. She started with a little small talk. "I am sorry about your sweater."

"Don't worry; I've got another," Storm replied quickly.

She had to ask him. Though she was afraid of what he might say. She chose her words carefully. "What would say to a… dating relationship of some kind between you and I?"

Storm considered for a moment. She was afraid that he would say no. She felt a bond with him that was unlike anything she'd experienced. She felt closer to him than anyone she had met—even her parents or, at one time, Talon. Finally he said smiling, "You know, I probably would have asked you anyway."

"Does that mean that mean 'yes'," she asked.

"Yes it does," Storm replied.

She smiled. Then she thought of something. "Does this mean we kiss?"

"I think we need to wait until the third date," Storm replied. A bit old fashioned, but she was actually glad about that. "Besides, I got hit in the face during the battle, and my lip's broken. I'd probably taste like blood."

She giggled softly. It seemed almost a trivial injury compared to what others had sustained. "Do you think you need medical attention?" Faye said jokingly.

"I tried, but everyone said that I was wasting their time," he said in a tone that suggested that it was a joke.

Faye laughed. She worried that she would aggravate her wounds or something, but it did not, and she was fine. As she stopped laughing, she sighed.

Then a doctor came in. She did not feel happy to see her. "So, are you ready for your checkup?" the doctor asked.

"I suppose so," Faye said.

The doctor turned to Storm. "You'd better go."

"Alright," Storm said as he got up. "See you later, Faye." She nodded and he left. They did not even have a first date planned.

* * *

Crystal was frustrated. With the CCT tower down after that Dragon smashed into it, communications were down. She couldn't report back to Headmaster Forester and inform him that they'd failed. While he had ordered radio silence, she felt like a report was in order.

Another thing that she felt like she had to do was visit Ember. She deserved to know it was Cinder—her own flesh and blood—that had done this. It was Cinder that had riled the masses, which caused a Grimm invasion, which then caused a Grimm Dragon to appear, which destroyed the CCT tower. While it might crush Ember, she deserved to know the truth.

She walked to the hospital through the ruined streets of Vale. It was safe here—what few Huntsmen there were made sure of that—, but so many destroyed buildings and destroyed lives. At least the rain was washing away the blood, and that the… bodies had been removed. It hadn't rained for the entire time she'd been here and now it was. She wondered if the weather was at all connected with the mood, but it couldn't be—it was just a coincidence.

As she was walking along, she was glad that she had a raincoat. Nixie had leant it to her, saying that she had no plans for going out that day. She almost laughed at her own misfortune. She had never borrowed anything from anyone in her life, and now she lived in a tent while the waited for boats to be readied for Mistral. How bad it had gotten in the twenty-four hours since the attack.

As she walked up to the hospital, Storm came out of it. "Hello, Storm," she said.

"Hey, Crystal," he replied.

"So, is Faye better?" Crystal said. "I wanted to talk to her about something." Another thing she wanted to talk about was the Wind Blade. Usually Maiden Blades were passed from father to son—or in recent days, father to daughter—and their heirs were groomed to use the weapons since childhood. Now Faye wielded one because she was distantly related to some random King of Vacuo. This was something that had to be settled soon.

"She's okay," Storm said. "I don't think you'll want talk to her right now, though. She's getting a checkup."

"I'll take my chances," Crystal said. "I'm also here to see Ember."

"Yeah, sorry about Ember."

"Why?"

"You haven't heard?"

"What?"

Storm hesitated. "I gave her the wounds that put her here." Crystal's eyes grew wide. "It was a misunderstanding, I think. I thought she was in league with the ones who did this."

"She wasn't!" she said defensively.

"I know, I know. It's just that apparently General Ironwood thinks that she and Rayne were terrorist or something."

She shook her head. "Why didn't Headmaster Forester tell him about our mission?"

"He doesn't know," Storm said, shrugging.

Crystal considered it. Why would he hide this from the man in charge of security for the Vytal Festival unless… "Storm, do you know who it was we fought the night Xiao Long broke Mercury's leg?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Not really."

Her gaze deepened. His eyes told her that he was holding something back. He knew something, but didn't want to say it. "We're both too smart for lies, Storm. Just tell me who it was."

"I don't know. I have a theory, but I don't know!"

"Then tell me your theory."

"I can't!" He stomped off, putting his arms over his head to protect against the rain.

She said after him. "They manipulated Rayne, Ember, and then they manipulated Faye."

He stopped but didn't turn around. "Faye?"

"They made her do something for them, but we stopped them." She stepped towards him. "Tell me your theory."

He turned around and looked her square in the eye. "They are the Order of the Broken Moon. They're a secret society, and they aren't in league with these terrorists, but they have something terrible planned for the world. They won't stop until they rule all of humanity, and they don't care who gets in the way." He sighed and looked around. "I really shouldn't have told you this in a public place. They could have heard that."

Crystal shook her head. "They said they were pulling out. I doubt there are any members left in Vale."

"I still don't want to take chances," Storm replied. "You also shouldn't tell anyone about this. If too many people know, they might start killing people."

"I understand, but if Forester is in league with them… one of the most powerful men in the world wants to take it over."

"He's not the mastermind. The true one is far worse, but I don't know much more than that."

"Good to know." Crystal stepped towards the door. "Farewell, Storm Sapphire."

"See you later, Crystal." And he walked down the sidewalk with his arms over his head.

She considered this. They wanted to take over the world, and by their members… they just might do it.


	25. Chapter 25: Family Matters

**:)**

* * *

Faye breathed a sigh of relief. The doctor had checked her out, and she was fine. She had been given a set of street clothes, and let out of the hospital.

She was given her weapons and armor back, of course. Her armor was in relatively good shape, though it could use a cleaning, and her body glove needed to be completely replaced. Ace and her Hail Blasters were fine, though she would need to get more Dust for them. The Wind Blade was missing, though Nixie had apparently taken it—she would need to talk to her about that. She put them in a large bag, and carried them out of the hospital.

Storm met up with her outside, and the two walked to a warehouse near the waterfront. Inside were rows and rows of tents, with students walking around outside, as well as a couple of teachers from Beacon. "Why are they here?" Faye asked.

"Beacon fell," Storm explained keeping his eyes on the sight. "Most of the students from academies outside of Vale are staying here while they wait for the boat, as well as a few students from Beacon that can't find anywhere else to stay." He turned to Faye. "Rayne and I are staying here until either our aunt and uncle or our other aunt can make room for us."

She cocked her head. "Why are they here and not in Mistral?" she asked.

"They were born here, as was my mom," Storm said. "My mom moved to Mistral years ago, just like my grandfather came from Vacuo. Guess it's in our blood to wander." That was interesting. "I would invite you, but it would be pretty stuffed I think."

"Do not worry; I will be fine," Faye replied. She looked around. "So, which tent is mine?"

"Um, I don't know," Storm said. "I think you'll have to ask the supervisor." He pointed to an Atlesian soldier with red markings on his uniform holding a scroll.

She nodded. "I suppose I will. See you later."

"See ya." And Storm walked into the lines of tents.

Faye walked over to the supervisor, trying to make sure she knew what to say. She was afraid of soldiers, especially Atlesian ones. She wished nothing more not to talk to him, but she had no choice—if she wanted to know where her tent was. She went up to him and said, "Are you the supervisor?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "Is there anything you need?"

"Which tent is mine?" she asked.

"Let me look it up." He looked at his scroll. "What's your name?"

"Feather Faye Elric," she said. "I am a student of Haven Academy."

"Well, let's see." He pressed a few buttons on his Scroll and said, "Your tent is 78-B." He pointed to one of the leftmost rows of tents. "It should be down there."

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome, citizen."

She began walking to her tent when she turned back and asked, "Could you help me find someone?"

"Sure, who is it?" She explained that it was Cirocco, and the man nodded. "He's actually a neighbor: 61-B. He should be somewhere around there."

"What about Nixie Frayne or Crystal Taryn?"

"Nixie Frayne isn't here; she's probably at her home. But Crystal Taryn is currently in tent 23-A," he pointed to some of the rightmost tents, "though I don't think she'll be there long though. Apparently she's some kinda dignitary's daughter, so the council is setting something up for her."

"All right." She would go to Crystal first, since she was going soon, and she wanted to talk to Crystal about the Wind Blade. "Thank you."

"No problem."

She walked over to where the soldier had said Crystal's tent was, and Crystal seemed to be just getting back. "Crystal," she called out.

Crystal turned around. "Yes, what is it, Faye?"

As she neared she said, "I want to talk to you about…" She realized it may not be a good idea to say the name of the Wind Blade, and just made a swinging motion with an imaginary sword.

Crystal nodded. "I understand." She opened the flap of her tent, and invited Faye in. Crystal sat down on the ground, and Faye did the same. "So… You will need training in order to fully utilize the Wind Blade."

"I do not want to wield it," Faye said.

Crystal's eyes widened. "You don't want it?"

"Yes. I would like to give it to the kingdom Vacuo, and allow them to choose who wields it."

Crystal nodded. "That is wise. The Maidens wanted each kingdom to have a Blade, and it imbalances the whole world for any kingdom to have more than one." She sighed. "I'm just sorry I didn't realize it before."

Faye stood up. "Well, I will see you another time, I think."

"Farewell, Faye," Crystal said.

"Farewell."

Faye exited the tent, and went to Cirocco's tent. She was not sure how to check if he was there—he did not exactly have a door. Fortunately, Cirocco came out of the tent before long after she arrived there. "Well, it isn't every day that a girl's outside my door," Cirocco said. "And I don't even have a door."

"Cirocco, I am aware that we do not know each other very well," Faye said, "but do you always have to tell odd truths?"

"I call 'em as I see 'em," Cirocco said. "But do you have to talk so weird?"

Faye considered it. "Perhaps not, but that is not why I came."

"Well, why did you come?"

"I wish to talk with Kit," Faye stated.

"She's staying with my sister Clove," Cirocco said. "They're at the Waterfront Hotel; Clove likes to have an easy escape route out of the kingdom." What sort of woman was Clove? Cirocco must have sensed her unease, and said, "She's perfectly safe. I don't know of anyone who can win a fight with Clove. She's kinda scary that way."

"Thank you." She had a vague idea of where it would be, though only vague.

"How do you know Kit anyway?" Cirocco asked.

"We both went to Asylum," Faye said. "That is a…"

"I know what Asylum is; it's a school for training warriors before they go to Haven—like that Sanctum," Cirocco said. "But I don't think you two are the same age, are you?"

"She is about a year and a half older than me," Faye said. "I… knew someone who knew Kit very well. It was inevitable that we met."

"Well, I guess most people would want you to have a happy reunion, but I don't care one way or the other. Anyway, see you."

"See you another time." Cirocco left to wherever he was going before Faye had interrupted him, and she went to search for the Waterfront Hotel.

* * *

Faye stood in the elevator, waiting for it to get to the seventh floor. It was paneled with a polished wood, and had a nice brown carpet. She had received the room number and floor from the man at the front desk, and was now going to the floor where Clove was staying.

Elevators always made her a little queasy. The constant shifting made it nearly impossible to keep one's bearing. Of course, that was nothing compared to meeting Kit again.

Kit was a bit of a trouble maker at Asylum. While Lorna could be the same, Kit was more so. She would so often torment nearby dogs, make what she called "music" with the lids of trash cans, and occasionally make fools of other students by asking questions that had no answers. Then again, she was also the most adventurous; whenever they played what passed for baseball in their group, she would always climb on top of whatever roof the ball had landed on.

As the elevator stopped, the doors opened, and she stepped out. She went to the room that Clove was staying in, and knocked on the door. Before long, it opened.

Standing in the doorway was the woman she had seen the other night beside Cirocco and Kit. She had blonde hair, tough features, and looked as tall as she was standing straight. Despite the currently cold weather, she wore T-shirt revealing her thick arms. She had green eyes, the left one looking slightly wrong—like it was synthetic. "Who are you?" the woman asked.

"My name is Faye," she replied. "Are you Clove?"

"Yeah, and what do you want?"

"I want to talk to Kit."

Clove crossed her muscular arms. She looked threatening. "Are you White Fang?"

"No! I hate them!" Faye said, offended. "Besides, we met briefly at Beacon. Do you remember?"

Clove lowered her head for a moment contemplatively. Then she looked back up. "I think I do. Didn't you have the white and blue Onyxcorp armor?"

"Yes, with wings."

"Yeah, I remember you." She uncrossed her arms and stepped to the side. "I guess you can talk to her. But if you kill her, I will kill you."

"All right." She stepped in, and could see the hotel room in its entirety as Clove closed the door. There was a nice cream colored carpet, white drywall, dark red ceiling, and two beds with red covers. On one of the beds sat Kit. Faye crossed her arms. "Hello, Kit," she said more curt than she meant to.

"Hello, Feather," Kit replied just as curt.

Clove grasped Faye's shoulder. "I thought your name was Faye!" she said.

She turned to Clove "That is my middle name. I think you would agree that is the better name," Faye replied. She looked back to Kit. "I go by Faye now."

"Huh, so that's your middle name," Kit said. Kit's eyes flickered to Clove. "Never knew it."

"Yeah, I got that," Clove said, releasing Faye's shoulder.

"Um, could you give us some privacy?" Faye requested.

"No, whatever you have to say, say it in front of me!"

"It is personal!"

"I don't care! She's my responsibility, and I take those very seriously!"

"Very well." She quickly went through possible semblances, and chose the best one for this. She altered the flow of energy in Clove's body to her brain, quickly rendering her unconscious. Kit stared as Clove fell to the ground. "I hope she is not too vengeful a person, but this is very private."

"What's so important?" Kit asked, shocked.

"You know very well who this is about."

Kit nodded understandingly. "Ah, Talon. He's safe."

"He shot me three times during the battle!" She leaned towards Kit. "What have you twisted him into, Kit?"

"Someone who kills who and what he means to kill," Kit replied. Faye leaned back. "He didn't want to kill you, obviously."

"Obviously, but how were you captured?"

"Didn't you hear? I'm defecting."

Faye raised her eyebrows. "You… You are trying to leave?"

"Both of us have had our fill of the White Fang, so we've decided to leave as soon as we can."

"But… no one leaves the White Fang!"

"Well, I did, and I can pass off as being captured by the enemy." Then she mumbled, "Of course they're going to want their sword back—that thing was not cheap to make."

Faye ignored that. "But someday… I'm going to see Talon again?"

Kit looked surprised. "If we can help it, you will. And you got so excited that you slipped in a contraction." Had she? "Don't worry; I won't tell anyone."

She was so excited! "Thank you for this news, Kit!"

"You're welcome. Just remember, I'm the one he wants to marry someday."

"Duly noted," Faye said. Those two had made their affection to each other no secret during their Asylum days, and coming between those two might be a bad idea.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Clove groaning on the floor. "If you will excuse me," Faye said, "I do not wish to be here when Clove regains consciousness."

"You probably don't. Goodbye."

Faye walked to the door. "See you another time, Kit." And she quickly stepped out before Clove woke up.

* * *

 **Before you say that Faye's acting out of character, it's just another side of her personality.**


	26. Chapter 26: Matters of State and Person

**If this chapter seems a little awkward at the start, it's because it was actually put in after the story was complete, oddly enough. I do think it adds something to the story.**

* * *

Storm knocked on the red door. Since he and Rayne were in the neighborhood, he decided to check on his uncle Norbert and aunt Shay. He hadn't seen them much since the battle, so he felt like he needed to talk to them. Very quickly, the door opened, and his uncle Bertie stood before them.

He smiled and hugged Storm and Rayne tightly, his big arms almost squeezing the breath out of Storm. "Hello, Storm and Rayne," Norbert said. He stepped back and asked, "How are two of my favorite nephews?"

"I'm okay," Storm replied.

"I'm fine," Rayne said.

"How are you?"

"Good, good, though I've got a bit of a limp right now. It should pass." He started to go inside, and gestured for them to follow. "Come in, come in. It's pouring like there's no tomorrow out there." Storm was glad to welcome out of the rain, and into his aunt and uncle's house. He made sure to wipe his feet first, and then went in.  
The entryway open up into the living room on the right, and the kitchen on the left. Shay was in the kitchen fixing a sandwich, as they passed and Norbert said, "Shay, we've got company."

Shay looked up, and her white fox ears flattened. "Not your relatives. It's bad enough when Hope comes around, but the last time these two were here…"

"They were three, okay? They won't do that again." He honestly didn't remember what he had done when he was three, but apparently it caused Shay to dislike the two of them. "Besides, not all relatives can be such a joy as yours."

"They're just a little grumpy that I married a human. I wish they could have a little more of a progressive attitude towards us."

"Yeah, just not too progressive." While they bickered, Storm and Rayne had sat down on the couch. He remembered when they would visit his parents, and they would occasionally bicker like this. He found it best to ignore them and go about whatever they were doing, because as much as they argued, they still loved each other a whole lot.  
Norbert sat down in his chair, and looked intently at them. "So, why exactly are you here?" Norbert asked.

"Just to see if you were okay, mostly," Storm said.

"Well, as you can see, we're fine," Shay said from the kitchen. Norbert seemed a little annoyed, but wasn't going to say anything that might spark another argument.

"Is Skye okay?" He had seen Redell at the tail end of the battle, and he seemed fine if a little winded, so he was more concerned with his other cousin.

"Sure," Norbert said. "She's got the strength of an elephant, remember?" He smiled. It was her semblance actually to mimic the talents of certain animals for an amount of time. Though he didn't want to know what would happen if she mimicked a rabbit. "She's fine. Don't worry. In fact, there almost seemed to be fewer casualties than you'd expect from a Grimm invasion."

Storm didn't know much about that. He had been at Beacon the whole time, and there didn't seem to be many students dying there, though he did remember one or two dying. Mostly soldiers died, which was a testament to their loyalty—they were ready to give their lives not only for their country, but for someone else's as well. Then he got his mind off the dead, and focused on the living.

He remembered something that he definitely had to bring up—Crystal. "Norbert, there's something I have to talk to you about alone," he said.

Rayne looked suspiciously at him, though didn't say anything. His silence made it a lot easier for Storm. Norbert nodded, seemingly understanding. He turned to the kitchen and called, "Shay, Storm and I are going out to the workshop."

"Okay." Apparently she wasn't that curious.

The two of them got up, and Norbert led him outside. In the backyard was a shed a little smaller than their living room, and had a simple construction. They went in, and Norbert turned on the light. The air was thick, and there were wood shavings on the workbench. It was then that Norbert turned back to face Storm, and he seemed a little hesitant. "Did Skye tell you about the order?"

"Yeah," Storm replied.

"Well, is this about them?"

"Yeah," Storm said. "I told someone else about it."

Norbert's aura was red with frustration, but he didn't yell or anything. "Were they trustworthy?"

"If anyone is, she is."

He cocked his head. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No! She just had a lot of suspicions about certain… events."

Norbert cocked an eyebrow. "What events?"

Storm took a deep breath in and said, "I think we encountered some of their agents."

His eyes grew wide with surprise. "They're moving in the open?"

"Not quite. They only stopped us from trying to fight someone."

"Hm. Who was it?"

"It doesn't matter. But I do know about some of their members."

"Tell me."

He described Jet and his allies—the woman with the Grimm mask who wore purple and black, and the man with red hair and a green coat. He also told him how they fought and his own speculations on their semblances. Those were the only ones he knew about, though Crystal or Faye might have encountered others.

When he finished, Norbert was quiet for a little while. "In over twenty years I haven't encountered a single member of the Order," Norbert said. "But now, you encountered three at once. They're either getting bold or desperate. Whoever this new threat is, after they're gone, the Order might be brave enough to strike from their hiding place. You're going to have to train as hard as you can to beat this threat, Storm. You, Rayne, and Redell are all going to have train for the coming battle. Because if we lose, no one will even know they've lost."

* * *

Rusti knocked on the door of his brother's apartment. Azura was next to him, as she had insisted on coming with him. He didn't know why, but maybe she just wanted to meet Tyson—which made him wonder even more. The door was answered by the pale woman he'd run into when he left last time. While one could say she frowned, she was already frowning before she could recognize Rusti. "What do you want?" she said.

"I want to see my brother," Rusti said impatiently.

The woman frowned even more than before—which hadn't seemed possible before. "Let us in," Azura said in a low, almost threatening tone.

The pale woman glanced at her. "You have blue hair, tan skin, and violet eyes. You have a pistol concealed by your coat, though there's a definite outline where it is. You're standing six inches from Rusti, which means you're close, but have no romantic feelings for each other or else you'd be standing closer. You're Azura Eastwood, Rusti's teammate and partner, as well as former resident of the village Far Edge. No threat from you is one I would take seriously."

Azura sneered at her, and it looked like they were going to fight, when Tyson's voice came from inside, shouting, "Tzila, who's at the door?"

"Your brother and his partner," she shouted back.

"Good, send them in."

She stepped aside, though not happily. "If I had my way, you wouldn't be anywhere near him," she said quietly as they walked past her. Rusti stuck his tongue at her, but quickly put it back in—with the look she gave him, she might have cut it out.

Tyson was sitting in his wheelchair in the living room, a wide grin on his face. "Two visits in less than a week!" Tyson said excitedly. "They should have tournaments more often."

"Then we'd have more Grimm invasions because of sore losers," Rusti said.

"I don't think I've ever seen a loser sorer than her though." They both nodded.

Azura put her hand forward and said, "I'm Azura."

"Right, introductions always slip my mind," Rusti said, somewhat embarrassed. "Tyson, this is Azura Eastwood, my partner. Azura, this is my brother Tyson."

"Nice to meet you, Azura," Tyson said, shaking her hand.

"You too," Azura replied.

The pale woman from earlier moved around Rusti and Azura to stand next to Tyson. "So, is she your assistant?" Rusti asked, gesturing to the woman.

"Oh, right, this is Tzila," Tyson said. "When I said assistant before, it wasn't quite right. She's more of a… bodyguard, is that right?"

Tzila—that sure sounded like the name of giant monster—nodded. "Correct, though not full time, if you'll remember."

Rusti looked questioningly at the two of them. "Why do you need a bodyguard?"

Tyson shrugged. "Comes in handy when there's a Grimm invasion."

"And for something else," Tzila said. What did that mean? She turned to Tyson. "I think you should tell them."

Rusti was a little nervous. Was he getting a sister or something? "What do you mean?" he asked very quickly. "Tell me what?"

Tyson took a cane off the side of his wheelchair, and began to lean on it. Rusti was about to rush to help him, but he waved him off. He then stood up out of his wheelchair, perfectly straight. Rusti was amazed, and Tyson's smile was wider than he'd ever seen it. "Tzila unlocked my aura, so I heal faster now, and I don't break as easily."

"That's great!" He turned to Tzila. "Thank you! Thank you for this!"

"All part of my job," Tzila replied. He didn't know much about her, but he would certainly find something to show her his gratitude.

* * *

 **Tzila is going to come back in subsequent stories, though I only have a general plan as to what those might be. Fun times.**


	27. Epilogue

Storm boarded the huge ship. It was the largest in the harbor by far, at least two hundred feet from stem to stern, and fifty feet wide at its thickest. It was so big that it didn't even shake a little when he came aboard. This was the boat to Mistral.

It had only been a couple of days since the Grimm invasion, and already things were being set in motion. He had heard that people in the Vale government were talking about either retaking Beacon, or building a new Hunter academy for Vale, though both plans had strong opposition due to some speech that actually triggered the invasion. In the meantime, students were trying to get transfers to other academies, though that too was difficult without inter-kingdom communication. Vale was having talks of rearming for some reason he hadn't caught—perhaps fear of more Grimm. In any case, it was above him, in the hands of those that he could only hope and pray that they would make wise decisions.

He knew that several teams and one student that had no team were going along with them. There was Redell's team—team SFRN—, a few teams he didn't know, and someone named Solana Nuri. He wondered how they would adapt to Haven.

He went to his assigned quarters and turned on the lights. The room had been provided for him by the Vale government. The room had white walls, a white ceiling, and a bright blue carpet. The only source of light would be a couple of windows on the door-side wall, and a lamp on the opposite wall. There was a nightstand with a digital clock on it displaying the time—3:40. The bunk beds that were there indicated that he would have three roommates. He knew who he probably would be sharing this room with.

He put the suitcase containing his weapons and armor at the foot of one of the bunk beds, and climbed onto the top bunk. He had experience with bunk beds, and always preferred the top bunk. He spent some time resting his eyes and looking to the clock.

Finally, one of his roommates came in—Rusti. Storm sat up on the bunk crossed legged. "So, I see you claimed the top bunk," Rusti said. "I'm going to take the bunk under yours, okay? I don't think either of us wants to watch the other sleep."

Storm nodded. "So, when do you think everyone else will get here?" he asked.

Rusti shrugged. "I think I saw Azura on deck, but I don't know where she is now."

Then the door opened and… Rayne came in. "What are you two doing in my room?" Rayne asked.

"This is our room," Rusti explained.

"No, I was assigned this room," Rayne said. He held up his ticket. So he was.

Storm facepalmed. "A theory," Storm said, slightly pained by the revelation. "Whatever bureaucrat got us this cabin may have known about our… prior association with each other, and instead of putting us together with our teammates, paired us up with other guys we know out of some weird gender type stuff. Which means our final roommate is…"  
Then Cirocco came in. Everyone turned to look at him and groaned, including Cirocco. "This was not my idea," Cirocco said.

"Don't worry, we know," Rayne said. "We figured it all out, and we're going to kill the bureaucrat who did this to us."

"That can't be legal," Cirocco said.

"It was a joke you…" Rayne made a weird, frustrated sound.

"Is he okay?" Rusti asked.

"That's just something he does when he's stressed," Storm said. "Well, stressed in the interpersonal sense, not battle. He can kill stuff in battle."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not in the room!" Rayne said angrily.

"Right, sorry," Storm said.

Rusti made an odd grin. "I wonder what the girls are up to if they're all been given the same room." One could only wonder.

* * *

Faye felt awkward with the four of them—herself, Azura, Crystal, and Ember—in one room, especially Ember. Azura was bored all the time, Crystal kept trying to treat this like some sort of sleepover, and Ember was just… depressing. Finally, Faye decided to try and make a joke. "So, does anyone know how to braid hair?"

Azura didn't laugh, nor did Crystal, but Ember was laughing so hard that she fell onto the ground. After she was done laughing, she raised her hand. "I know how to braid hair."

"Is this some kinda joke?" Azura asked.

"Yes, is it?" Crystal said.

"I cannot believe that you can't get this joke!" Ember said. "You're supposed to be the life of the party or something, Crystal, and you can't…" She started laughing again. A good joke was apparently all she needed was a good joke.

Crystal looked to Azura. "Shouldn't you be able to braid hair?"

Azura shrugged. "Never needed to. Mine's like oil; can't get caught in anything. Family trait."

"How…?" Crystal started. Then she considered it. "How often do you wash your hair?" Azura shrugged again. Then Crystal looked to Faye. She wondered why she was staring. "Is it difficult to wash your hair with all those feathers in it?"

Faye cocked her head. "A little, but I got used to it," Faye said. "They did not actually grow in until I was about ten, and then as just little spikes."

"Really?" Crystal asked. She seemed honestly curious about this subject.

"Yes; they were not fully grown until I was about fourteen or fifteen. They came in a bit late, according to my parents—they are both Faunus of the same type, so they have some experience with these. At least I did not get wings."

Crystal's eyes grew wide. "Wings?"

Faye laughed a little, and looked out the window. The sky was a yellow orange, indicating an absolutely gorgeous sunset. She almost wanted to go out, but decided not to. With friends like these, who needs sunsets?

* * *

Jet knelt before the Master. Next to him were Guthrie and Valine. Whoever that woman was that the Master called Death was not there. The room was dark, and he couldn't even see the Master properly, or even the walls. All he could see was his fellows and the door that they had entered from. "Beacon has fallen, master," Jet said, as no one else wanted to break the news to him.

The Master spoke in the usual, synthetic, genderless voice. "I am not disappointed."

Jet couldn't believe it. "You're not?"

"No." The Master stepped out of the shadows. He or she—Jet really didn't know—wore black clothing, which concealed figure, gender, and made guessing height very difficult. The Master also wore a featureless metal mask. "I am furious." The Master then grabbed Jet's head, and slammed it into the ground.

His nose broke, sending a wave of pain through his face. Blood filled in nose, and he put his sleeve up to his nostrils. But suddenly, he was fine. He was on the ground, but his nose was unbroken. He looked to his sides and saw that his allies were in similar positions. "Not again," he mumbled.

The Master disappeared back into the shadows. "Cinder couldn't be working alone—no matter how intelligent or motivated she is, her knowledge of the mystic arts is unprecedented. This will not be the end of it, my servants, even if Cinder is dead.

"Until this matter is settled, and the one pulling the strings is brought dead at my feet, all operations are cancelled," the Master continued. "Call up every member on every continent, island, and iceberg. Search for them, with every resource we can muster. Recruit anyone who is suitable to be an agent. Whether or not they want war, they've got one now. Soon they will feel the fiery wrath of the Order of the Broken Moon. So say I."

"So say you," the trio said in unison.

"When do you want to start this war?" Jet asked.

"Immediately."

* * *

 **The Order of the Broken Moon will be appearing in subsequent stories, primarily as the antagonist. Though until such time as Salem has been defeated or the like, or until they do irreparable damage to the world and I have to go into an AU, I will be putting off having the Order be anything more than a set piece.**

 **Thank you for reading through this, the second part of Stories From Haven Academy. There will not be a part 3, because I will be making the "Haven" series, basically Stories From Haven Academy, but made so that people don't have to read through the pain of Part 1. It'll have the same cast, continue the same plot lines, and the only change will be the name and that there will be a minor introduction to the characters at the start.**


End file.
